Snippets
by greysky3
Summary: Moments of the flock's life while they stay at Dr. Martinez's. FANG never happened. Nudge's fail birthday, misteltoe mishaps, a carnival, hacking NASA, and more. FAX, EGGY.
1. Happy Birthday to Nudge!

**A/N: I apologize to Directioners. Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

MAX

"Look what I found!" Gazzy shouted across the house. He waved a crumpled piece of paper in front of me.

"What?" I mumbled, chewing on a waffle. He smoothed it out on the table in front of me.

"Ooh, paper," Iggy remarked sarcastically. He was sitting next to me, and in a bad mood. Mom was still asleep, and I had forced him to make breakfast. It was a Saturday, okay? Couldn't we give my _mother_ a break?

Gazzy ignored Iggy's lack of enthusiasm. "It's our birthdays," he said. I looked at it. It was a list we had made of our birthdays. We'd made at least six, and forgotten our birthdays every time, so we sort of made them up. Six times.

I looked down the list. "I have the same one as Fang?" Oh, wait I remembered that.

_"We're making the birthday list again!" Nudge shouted. I ran downstairs. I wanted to turn eleven so badly. Gazzy had picked April 1__st__, Iggy September 14__th__, and I really wanted a special one. The day we had left the school._

_ "May 21__st__!" I yelled at the same time as Fang. We glared at each other. "Called it first!" I said. He was really mad at me. "No, I did!" he answered equally angrily._

_ Then we both ended up with broken arms and bloody noses and decided to pick the same one._

I grinned. Looking down the list, I saw Nudge's birthday was—today. "It's Nudge's birthday! She gets to turn twelve!" I said.

Angel came down sleepily. "She wants a new shirt. And One Direction posters," Angel mumbled. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's all Nudge thinks about," she explained. I poured her some orange juice and Iggy handed her a waffle. I looked back at the birthday list. Fang and mine's was is three days.

"Okay," I said. "Nudge is still sleeping. Iggy—cake duty with Angel! Gazzy, distract her or something, keep her busy in her room." Gazzy nodded.

"I'll go with Fang to buy her stuff at the mall," I said. "And to make out in the parking lot," my voice said, though I hadn't opened my mouth.

I glared at Gazzy but he just giggled. "Someone say my name?" Fang asked, popping out of nowhere.

"Yeah, come on. We need to buy Nudge birthday stuff," I said, dragging him towards the front door.

"Max?" he asked, amused. "What?" I asked, tired and impatient. "Maybe some clothes?" I looked down. I was wearing a green tank top and loose purple pajama pants.

Five minutes later, I was _dressed_ and ready. I sprinted outside to get a running start, then snapped out my wings and lifted up into the air. I started gaining altitude and Fang followed.

The mall wasn't far. "So, what was that about _making out in the parking lot_?" I rolled my eyes at him but he just smirked.

We were just above the mall and I tucked my wings in. Suddenly, I stopped falling. I wasn't moving at all. I flapped desperately, but I stayed frozen in the air. I started to panic, screaming for Fang. "Yes?" he asked from right behind me.

I noticed two arms around my waist. "Not funny," I warned. He opened his arms and let go. He was really being irritating today.

I closed my eyes and went limp, relaxing my wings and not flapping anymore. I started to fall, fast.

"Max?" I heard Fang shout from above. I didn't react; just let myself fall. "Max!" he yelled urgently and swooped down. I didn't show any sign of noticing that. He caught me just above the ground.

"Are you OK?" he asked, on the edge of a panic attack. I snapped my wings open and flew up, shoving him. "Is it still funny?" I called from above.

I felt him grab one of my shoes. I tried kicking him off, but he was pretty strong. He pulled me down to the ground with him.

"Hilarious," he said before he leaned down and kissed me. I forgot the world for a second, as we pressed closer. He held me for a moment more and I untangled myself from him.

"Nudge," I said, disoriented. Where were we anyway? In the parking lot of the mall. Oh, the irony.

"What did she want again?" I called to Fang as we walked in the big, bright mall. "Clothes and This Direction."

"I think it's One Direction." I saw this store that had that written all over the window.

"Wow," I breathed, looking at their surprisingly feminine faces. "They all look the same," Fang said, horrified.

No kidding. Other than one blond one and this scary one with dark hair and too much mascara, they were identical. They all had _really_ tall hair. Like, antigravity tall.

I picked a shirt with all of them on it, posters of them, and a watch "signed" by One Direction. I also saw a small eyeshadow kit. Perfect. I paid for all that stuff and went to Target. I picked out ice cream: Cherry Garcia, Nudge's favorite.

"We better get back home," I said. "And we're leaving out the front door, not the parking lot!" Fang grinned at me.

Well, you can guess what happened next. Fang dragged—yes, dragged—me to the parking lot. He pulled on my arm and I couldn't stop running after him. We scared so many families and people were a blur as we ran by. I was trying to hold on to my shopping bags and not bump into everyone.

We burst out the back door. I stopped for a second, panting, making sure I hadn't lost anything. I heard Fang's voice from behind me, "So, now that we're in the parking lot…" he trailed off.

I rolled my eyes, turning around and snapping my wings out. I flapped up into the air and headed back home, Fang on my trail, trying to grab my shoe again. I wasn't going to let him.

We came home to the whole flock, minus Nudge, in the kitchen. "I got the presents," I said breathlessly. Iggy was checking on a vanilla cake in the oven. It was turning golden. "Nudge is still asleep," Gazzy reported.

"Good," I said. I started to unpack what we had bought and I put the ice cream in the freezer.

"Hey, they _did_ go to the parking lot," Angel remarked to Gazzy. I shot her a look.

"We need to wrap these," I said pointing to the pile of One Direction things. Angel nodded and went to find wrapping paper.

Well, turns out we had none, so I colored lined paper pink with some crayons I found lying around. Close enough, okay?

Iggy took the cake out and started making icing. I was watching him from the required three-foot distance (long story), while he added melted butter and that weird sugar that's like baby powder.

So that's how you make icing. Butter and baby powder. I'll keep that in mind if I ever need to cook. "I'm not eating any icing you make, Max," Angel warned, passing by the kitchen.

When Iggy was done, he asked me to write "Nudge" on the cake. He handed me a plastic bag with pink goo in it. "How do I do it?" I asked him.

"Squeeze on it," he explained, wiping his hands on his apron. One Christmas, Gazzy had gotten him an apron that said "Kiss the chef." He made us promise not to ever tell anyone what it said. Iggy wore it proudly to this day, having no idea what it said.

I squeezed on it experimentally and pink goo dripped to the floor. Oops. I ignored it and held the plastic bag over the cake. Nudge and Mom had slept through this whole thing. Wow.

I wrote "Nudge" in flowery script on the cake. I told Iggy it was ready, and feeling his way expertly through the fridge, he put it in. Everything was ready.

I walked upstairs, followed by the rest of the flock. I walked up to Nudge's room. I opened the door. It was dark. I stepped over to the window and opened the curtains. Light filled the room.

"Rise and shine, sweetie!" I called. Nudge opened a tired eye. "Wuh?"

"It's your birthday!" the rest of the flock cheered. Nudge looked confused.

"We found an old birthday list. It's today, you're twelve!" Nudge smiled and groaned. She got up groggily and made her way to the door. Iggy raced downstairs.

By the time we got downstairs, Iggy had taken the cake out of the fridge. "Wow, it's so pretty!" she gushed. I gave her her terribly wrapped presents. She opened them all and squealed, rushing to hug each one of us.

We all ate the cake together, and almost passed out after. Then Mom barged in on us. She must have freaked out: Me dozing off on Fang's chair, with Fang still on it under me, Nudge decked out in One Direction and giggling maniacally, Iggy and Gazzy eating piles of Cherry Garcia while Angel quietly finished the pink icing, most of it still splattered on the floor by yours truly.

It took her a few seconds to start screaming.


	2. Fax and Shamrocks

**A/N: Sorry it's short! I like holidays, I'll be doing them more and more. To make up for this short one, I'll be posting today again, I swear.**

**Thank you to: **

**Spread My Wings and Soar**

**I-HATE-HAPPY-PEOPLE**

**DarkLove9**

I woke up to light shining in my face. Who the hell had opened the curtains? I fumbled around, trying to find my pillow to cover my face. "No! Get up!" a voice said.

I barely had time to register it was Fang. "Uhh?" I grunted, reaching for him, but he threw the pillow into the hallway. I stretched slowly, taking my time, until Fang plopped something on my face.

It was soft, thin and green. It was a t-shirt. I lifted it up, and saw written on the front, in sparkly dark green letters, _Kiss me I'm Irish. _"You're wearing that!" Fang called from somewhere outside.

Happy St. Patty's, Max. "No," I mumbled, still trying to fall back asleep. "I have ways," Fang whispered scarily. I rolled my eyes and dragged myself out of bed. I pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

Fang suddenly ran in, closed the door and tackled me. He was pulling the shirt over my head. He pulled it down until it was acceptably on.

"_No,_" I said, glaring at him. He looked at me and I tried to block the persuasion rays. "Please?" he asked, stepping closer.

I wavered. "Fine," I finally sighed. He has mind-controlling powers, I swear. I dragged myself downstairs. The flock was downstairs, all wearing green.

Nudge raised an eyebrow when she saw what I was wearing but I waved her off with a moody "Don't ask."

Angel giggled. "_Fang_ made her wear it." Everyone's heads swiveled to look at me, including Iggy's, which creeped me out a little. "Coffee," I said.

Iggy passed the coffee over to me, and I poured myself a mug. I sprinkled some sugar in and stirred with a spoon. Everyone was watching me. "What?" I asked irritably.

They all looked away, seeing how murderous I sounded. Fang loped down the stairs to go down to the table. He sat next to me, and grinned, looking at my shirt.

He pretended to read my shirt for the first time, and pecked me on the lips with a "Don't mind if I do."

Gazzy leaned over and pinched me. "First, coffee. Then, I'll deal with everything else," I announced, draining my mug.

"Can we have beer?" Iggy asked earnestly. "No," I said through gritted teeth. He smiled at me in a way that meant this fun day had only begun.


	3. Mistletoe

**A/N: Another holiday one, this time Christmas. SO MUCH FLUFF COMING UP... Well, I'm sorry. I really need to go back to angsty.**

I knew there would be trouble when I saw Nudge with an armload of mistletoe. "What are you _doing?_" I asked her. She giggled.

"Setting up mistletoe!" She hung one up above the dining room door, on top of the couch, and, surprise, one above both Fang's and my room. There were probably more I hadn't seen.

"Rules," she announced to no one in particular. "You can't take these down. You _have_ to kiss." She ran off to her room. I froze, terrified at the thought of having to kiss Iggy, Gazzy, or _Ella_…

I needed to leave the living room, though. I had to get the decorations out from the closet. I got closer to the door, making sure I wasn't directly under the mistletoe yet. I sneaked a look around. No one.

I swooped under it, and made it out. I ran for it again, clearing another one. I was finally in front of the closet. I looked up, half-expecting another mistletoe, but there was nothing.

I opened the rusty door and tried to lift the box. It was too heavy. "Fang!" I called. "Can you help me carry something?"

He appeared. "Damsel in distress?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and tried to lift the box again, with no success. "Is Max the invincible too weak?" he taunted. He was enjoying this _way_ too much.

"Shut up and help me," I said. He grabbed one end, and I grabbed the other. We made our way together, and soon we were under the first doorway. Fang pointed up, and I looked at saw those damn berries again.

He leaned over the box, and I rolled my eyes. "It's the rules," he said innocently. Yeah, except there was this heavy box between us. I tried leaning over at the same time he did, only to drop it.

I cringed, waiting for my feet to be murdered, but there was nothing. Fang had lifted the box easily and set it on the ground, no sweat. "You were just pretending it was heavy for you?" I asked in disbelief.

He smirked. "Didn't want to hurt the lady's feelings." I gritted my teeth. "_Get._ The box. Now."

"Wait," Fang said, again pointing to the, well, let's say I thought _freaking _berries. I sighed and leaned over and pecked him on the lips. Fang tried to pull me to him again, but I shook my head. "You have something to do. Now." I said, as menacing as I could.

He picked it up easily and walked over to the living room with me right behind him. He stopped again under another doorway.

I stopped too, confused, and he kissed me again. We stayed pressed together a few seconds longer than we should have, then he was back on his way. Well, if it was going to be all the trouble for only a second…

I was about to tear them down when Nudge popped up next to me. She motioned me to go first so we wouldn't be under the mistletoe together. Oh, gross, really gross. Just for the record, I _hate_ mistletoe.

"Gazzy! Angel! Want to decorate the tree?" They came bounding down the stairs. They ran up to the lopsided plastic tree and dug into the ornaments with Nudge.

Fang made a point of staying in the doorway, making it impossible for me to leave the room without kissing him again. He was really pushing it. I walked past him, hoping to escape Fang.

He grabbed me and pulled me back to the doorway. "You better not tell me some crap about the rules," I warned.

Fang pulled me closer and I put my arms around his neck. I closed my eyes, aware that we were so close.

He pressed his lips against mine and we stayed like that for a while. All the noise in the living room has stopped and I thought I heard Nudge say _I told you so._ At the moment, I really didn't care.


	4. Everything goes boom

A/N: Less fluff... Hey they went a whole chapter without making out! No way!

I woke up to a loud BOOM! It shook the house, and I fell off my bed. I don't know about you, but this is not my idea of a good start to the day.

"Gazzy!" Iggy roared from downstairs. "I told you it was the _green_ wire, not the red one!" I groaned and felt around the floor, trying to wake up. I wanted to sleep a while more and not have to deal with this.

I crawled up to the top of the stairs and started walking, sleep-walking if you ask me, downstairs.

There was a huge freaking hole in the dining room table. The smell of smoke still lingered. As my eyes widened, I saw two very guilty boys trying to silently edge out of the room.

"This is a really bad fire alarm," Gazzy commented nervously. I glared at him and he shrunk back.

Then, speak of the devil, it started wailing. Mom ran downstairs, assessed the damage, and disabled the alarm. Usually, kid surprise adults with breakfast in bed, or a cute drawing. Not us. Nope, we blew a hole into your table while making a bomb.

I looked at her guiltily. "Sorry, Mom," I said. It wasn't exactly _my_ fault, but I stood by my flock no matter what.

Gazzy and Iggy both apologized. Then, I knew I had raised them right. Or, I glared at them evilly enough.

Mom sighed, and trudged back to her room. I wanted to do the same thing, so as I glared again at the boys, and walked back up the stairs to my room. Bed sweet bed.

Guess who grabbed me on the way to my room and picked me up? You guessed it, Fang. I screamed, punched, kicked and threatened all the way down the stairs. Nothing seemed to faze him.

Iggy and Gazzy just watched me silently. A second ago, I had been yelling at them, now I was letting myself be carried and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

After a while I just gave up, thinking I would be more comfortable anyway if I just let myself be carried. I put my arms around his neck as he supported my body with his arms. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"For a fly," he answered. "I'm wearing pajamas again," I said. He shrugged it off. "Who cares?"

"I do. Put me down and I'll be ready in five minutes." He dumped me unceremoniously on the couch, and I sprung up, stretching my wings. They had cramped up during the night.

I ran upstairs and came back down again, dressed in a few minutes. "Ready?" Fang asked. I nodded.

"Going out!" I shouted for the benefit of whoever might care. I ran outside behind Fang, and he grabbed my hand as we both took off. "It's going to be impossible to fly like this," I grumbled.

"We'll deal," he answered. I let go suddenly and swooped down, making impossible stunts and loops in the air. I shot down and swerved up again, feeling the wind. Fang followed, and I used my super-speed to whiz around in circles, getting smaller and smaller. When was the last time I could do this, fly without worrying the house will go down in flames.

When we got home and opened the door, smoke greeted me. There was a fire. Now I remembered why I didn't run off with Fang and relax anymore. Nudge and Angel were helping the boys dump water on the oven while Iggy sprayed fire extinguisher.

The fire went out. "Why is there a fire every time I turn my back for a second?" Mom looked at me, pained. There looked like there was no damage to the oven, there had already been enough things destroyed by the flock today.

"Well hello to you too, Max. How's your day going?" I glared at him, but it was wasted, so I turned my glare to Gazzy.

"How was your date with Fang?" Angel asked. I just brushed it off as Nudge's eyes got wider.

"What happened here first, then we talk about where I was," I said curtly. Iggy looked somewhat guilty.

"Well, it _was _a soufflé…" Iggy started. He didn't look like he wanted to continue.

"Ella called," Nudge giggled. "And he was thinking some pretty embarrassing stuff," Angel continued.

He glared at their chins, missing my a little. I was really, really tired. "Let's order pizza," I said. Mom nodded, happy not to have to cook.

"I'm stuffed," I mumbled. Fang nodded in agreement. We had practically inhaled forty bucks' worth of pizza. We were both lying down on the couch; me between Fang and the its comfy back.

"How was the fly today?" he asked. "Great," I said. "I didn't know how much I needed to stretch my wings."

It was true. In a house, you think about your wings less and go days without unfolding them. "Maybe we should leave," I whispered so no one else would hear. Except Angel, of course.

She always monitored what was happening in the whole flock's minds. _Yup, that's me,_ Angel's voice spoke in my head. I had a scary thought. _Do you listen to…everything?_

_I do,_ Angel cackled. I heard her tinkling laugh from upstairs. I couldn't stop thinking around Fang, could I? I practically did stop thinking straight whenever he talked to me. Oh, what the hell.

_Angel, if you're scarred for life, not my fault. _There was a pause. _I've already seen so much…and not only from you. _Not reassuring.

Who cares, anyway? I thought as my mind shut down for good as Fang hugged me against him. Maybe we could fall asleep like this…. We did sometimes, but then I magically woke up in my bed.

I started to doze off as Fang played with a strand of my hair. I heard strange scurrying upstairs, and whispers.

I bolted upright. I heard another explosion, and a strangled cry of "Oh no! Max's phone!"

"IGGY! GAZZY!" I shrieked as I ran upstairs to get revenge.


	5. M&M (Mall and Movie)

**A/N: Sorry if Nudge is OOC in the beginning. I do not own Maximum Ride, Harry Potter or Forever 21. Spoilers for Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix.**

"We're going to the mall!" Nudge said. I looked up from the TV. Fang and Iggy were watching (or listening) mindlessly too, barely aware that the screen was blaring. Iggy was listening half-heartedly to a jingle about pizza. Fang had one arm around me, and I was waiting for the Harry Potter marathon to come on.

I looked at Nudge with stinging eyes watering from the screen. "Why do you think that?" I asked her.

She giggled maniacally. She held up Fang's laptop, my only decent hoodie, and Iggy's iPod. In one hand she had a lighter. She grinned wider. Nudge can be serial killer creepy when she wants new clothes.

"She has your iPod and a lighter," I whispered to Iggy. He tensed, like a tiger ready to pounce. I gulped.

"Hey, I guess we _are_ going to the mall," I laughed weakly. She smiled charmingly and put the lighter away. I really needed to break these kids out of their blackmailing habits.

I jumped to my knees, gave everyone back their belongings, and turned back to Nudge. "Anyone other than me you want to take?" She motioned to the boys who were still on the couch making sure their precious electronics were okay.

"Guys," I said. "You're coming too." They groaned but followed me, scared for their possessions.

Half an hour later, we all landed softly at the mall, folding our wings in again. We walked in the front door and stood around awkwardly. "FOREVER 21!" Nudge shrieked. It strange she shopped there, since she was nowhere near twenty-one, but we all followed her in anyway.

She picked up this frilly pile of pink, and a bunch of limp clothes. She stacked on a belt, a shapeless hat, and flats. I stood patiently outside while she tried everything on. "I want to go to Sears," Iggy announced randomly while we were checking out. I looked at him weirdly then agreed.

I paid for Nudge's clothes and we headed over to Sears. Iggy picked seemingly innocent items: two alarm clocks, a radio, a small lighter, and a toaster. He could make an explosion or a big fire with every one of those things. I was pretty sure he really needed the toaster, because he had been complaining for a while about how Mom's toasted more on one side than on the other. I sighed and paid, because arguably he wasn't buying anything for evil purposes. But I knew better.

"Anyone else?" I asked. No one answered. I headed over to buy food. I let everyone pick, so we ended up with waffles, bacon, fish sticks, five tubs of ice cream, frozen pizza, juice boxes, and pop tarts. I have to admit I picked quite a few of those. I paid again with my magical bottomless Max card.

We left the mall heavier, carrying bags of purchases. Fang hadn't asked for anything. We arrived home, and as I opened the door I heard an explosion.

"GAZZY!" Iggy yelled. "I told you to wait for me before making that bombs! He felt around the mangled remains of pieces of the TV's remote and random alarms clocks. "Did you connect the gold wires with the A/C adaptor and the power source?"

"Yes?" Gazzy said guiltily. Iggy frowned. "You need an insulator for the wires, and the A/C transformer has to take the current the other way, or else the batteries fry and blow up the wires connecting it to the timer."

As you could guess, I understood nothing of that whole speech. All I knew was that we definitely had no TV remote anymore. "Clean it up," I told Gazzy, putting away the groceries in the fridge.

I finished and plopped back onto the couch, turning the TV on just in time to catch the middle of Prisoner of Azkaban. I heard two sounds on either side of me, and without looking I knew Iggy and Fang had sat next to me. Fang pulled me closer to him with one arm and I leaned my head back onto his chest.

We watched for a second. "What does Sirius look like?" Iggy asked. I looked at him. "He has long, wavy brown hair, and a mustache," I said.

Iggy nodded. I admit, I wasn't a poet, but I did my best. Angel suddenly bounded in and jumped on the couch, separating me from Fang. She sat on my lap as we watched Harry walk through infinite hallways. "When does he die?" Angel asked me.

"You just ruined the movie!" Iggy said. Angel rolled her eyes, having read my mind and known he would die. Iggy stormed off and Angel took his place.

"There, now you can sit with Fang," Angel said. I wasn't sure whether to say thank you or not. I turned my attention back to TV. They were finally, finally going in to the Shack-

"Dinner!" Mom shouted across the house. I looked for the remote to turn the TV off, then I remembered it was part of the now ruined bomb Gazzy had made. I walked up to the TV and pressed the power button. I went over to the table to see the flock and Ella already there.

I sat down. We were having spicy Mexican food, in bird-kid quantities. Pure bliss. I served myself a pile of beans and six overstuffed tacos and started chomping my way through dinner happily.

"So, what did you do today?" Mom asked.

"Went to the mall!" Nudge squealed.

"As hostages," Fang muttered.

"Got my best prototype blown up," Iggy added bitterly.

"Sorry," Gazzy said.

"Watched a movie," Angel announced happily.

Everyone turned to me. I thought about my day. "All of the above," I answered. "Except for the prototype thing."

Everyone nodded through scary mouthfuls of food. We all smiled, a good day. When I finally went to bed, I wanted to just sleep and relax. Those words just aren't part of my vocabulary. Fang was in his room, but I hadn't seen the flock in a while. I decided to go look for them, when Angel appeared.

"I had a vision," she said quietly. I looked at her, concerned. "What was it, sweetie?"

She looked up at me solemnly. "I see…in the near future…water." Before I had time to think, the flock popped up with water guns.

They all sprayed me at the same time as I ran for cover into the bathroom. I closed the door, and tried to hold it close while finding the lock to keep them out.

Fang forced the door open, and came in. He helped me lock the door. I opened the shower curtain. We had one of those shower heads that detached. I nodded at him and took it off the hook. I got close to the door while he got ready to turn on the water.

I yanked the door open and the flock was blasted with freezing water. They shrieked and screamed, dropping their water guns. Fang turned off the water.

Mom popped up right then. Bad timing. The floor was soaked and so were we. She started screaming. "MAX! FANG!"

"But—" I started. She wasn't done. "IGGY GAZZY NUDGE ANGEL! GO TO YOUR ROOMS NOW, ALL OF YOU!"

We scampered away, and as I closed my door, I noticed Fang was in there with me. I hated when he snuck up on me. "You heard her, go to your room," I muttered.

"Nope," he said, and plopped onto my bed. Well, two could play at that game. I ran out, and got into Fang's bed. He didn't follow me. Whatever.

I woke up the next morning in a place I didn't recognize. What? Where? It was Fang's room. He was sleeping next to me, breathing regularly. Stubborn Fang. _Well, I might as well go back to sleep now,_ I thought. I buried my face back into Fang's pillow, now mine, and tried for a little more sleep. If only.

"Morning," Fang muttered. I made a sound somewhere between a moan and a howl, so he assumed I didn't want to be bothered. Wise choice. He just hugged me closer, and I tried going back to sleep against Fang's warmth. But no.

Gazzy and Nudge burst into the room. "EW!" Gazzy screamed. Nudge's eyes widened and she almost dropped the camera. The _camera?_ "DELETE THAT!" I shrieked.

I didn't want anyone getting ideas. She just giggled. "I'm sure this will interest your mom," she said slyly.

"How much?" I asked. "Sixty bucks," Nudge chirped. She turned towards Gazzy and told him they'd split fifty-fifty.

"Fine," I groaned. "Just let me sleep."

"With Fang," Nudge added. She was way overdoing it, but I'm really not that vengeful in the morning. Gazzy still looked freaked out, his mouth was forming the word "ew" over and over again, but no sound came out.

Just to freak them out some more, Fang pecked my once on the lips. They left the room quickly, obviously not wanting to see any more.

Finally, I could sleep. I would deal with life later.


	6. Flock Camping!

**A/N: What do you think? Too much Fax? Feedback please!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

**Thank you to:**

**SkyGirl68**

"WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?" Nudge was almost in tears. I rushed over. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Bored," she ground out. I rolled my eyes. Dramatic much? "What do you want to do?" I asked her.

"Go camping!" she squealed. _Please?_ Angel thought from downstairs. "Fine, whatever."

"But everyone has to go," she said. I decided to humor Nudge. "Sure, sweetie." Angel did her mind-trick and thought into the flock's minds: _WE'RE GOING CAMPING! PACK YOUR BAGS GUYS!_

I heard Iggy groan from his room. Fang was downstairs, typing away as usual. "No way, Ange," he called.

"You get to convince them," I told Nudge. Surprisingly, everyone was packed and ready in half an hour, if not grumpy. I didn't even want to know how Nudge had made them all come.

Angel was grinning widely. I had told Mom who had agreed it was a fun idea, letting us borrow a tent. Ella wanted to go too. I'm pretty sure Mom like the idea of being home with no worries or cooking to do, but she made us all take our phones.

We flew off into the air, with me carrying Ella with the help of Fang. Ella was enjoying this, never having flown before. I suddenly felt bad for her, stuck on the ground the whole time.

We landed at this small clearing in the forest and pitched a tent. I started on a campfire, while Nudge brought out what we needed for s'mores.

"The last camper was decapitated. And the psycho-killer used the campers' vocal cords to make guitar strings," Gazzy finished in a creepy voice.

"Good one, Gasser," I said. Iggy raised his hand and Gazzy high-fived it. Angel was stuffing her face with marshmallows, and so was I. Fang had one on a stick, and was holding it above the fire moodily, watching it burn. Gazzy and Iggy had taken turns telling every creepy, bloody, gory scary story they had ever heard.

"Any more scary stories?" I asked. I looked at everyone, ending with Fang. "As long as we're not singing," he muttered. He was lucky. He could be moody all he wanted. I had to keep a happy face glued on for the kids.

"Did I tell the one with the boy who had no face?" Iggy asked. "Yes," we all groaned.

"What about the one with the dog licking the girl's hand?" Iggy said again. "No, you didn't tell that one," Gazzy answered curiously. Iggy started, the flames flickering grimly on his thin features.

"There was this girl who was staying at a shack by the sea with her parents. One night, they left to have dinner. She stayed with her dog. She was scared because a psycho-killer had escaped."

Right that second, I knew she'd meet the psycho-killer soon enough, and the ending wouldn't be pretty.

"Her parents told her that if she was scared, she could just dangle her hand under her bed, and her dog would lick it and reassure her. So they left." Uh-oh.

"She heard a noise and left her room." _She's done for._ "It was just water dripping. She went back to her room and the dog licked her hand. She heard noise again, tapping. She left her bed, and it was only a branch tapping against the window. She went back to her room, and the dog licked her hand. She heard footsteps, this time she was sure of it. She put her hand under the bed and felt the lick. She went downstairs and saw her dog, hanged. 'But he just licked my hand,' she said. Then a voice said from behind her. 'Dogs aren't the only ones that can lick hands.'"

I shivered. He had told it well. "So it was the _psycho-killer_ licking her hand?" Nudge squeaked.

We all sat in dazed silence. "I'm tired," Ella muttered. She walked over to the tent and I heard her zip up the sleeping bag. Iggy followed, and so did Gazzy, Nudge and Angel. It was just Fang and I again.

Finally, alone time. I curled up against Fang who was sitting, my head in his lap. He started twirling a strand of my hair. I felt myself doze off. "Love you," he whispered, but I think I was asleep. He carried me into the tent, and zipped me into my sleeping bag. Fang got into his and slung one arm over me.

"INCOMING!" Gazzy shouted. We all scattered as he landed clumsily in the middle of us. He was laughing at Angel who landed a second after. I knew there would be trouble when Gazzy yelled "Last one down is a first-generation flying Eraser!"

I glared at both of them and continued packing. This fun trip was coming to an end, fast. "Ready?" I asked no one in particular. I took everyone ignoring me as a yes. "WE'RE LEAVING!" I screamed, and swooped up. That got their attention.

I went back down for Ella and Fang was on the ground beside me in a second. "Ready?" I asked her. She nodded. I picked her up with Fang's help. The fly home wouldn't be too bad.

We got home and Mom opened the door for us. Everyone ran in, Iggy especially happy to be able to charge his dead iPod. Nudge smiled at me and ran upstairs to her room.

Everyone scattered. "You do anything to keep them entertained," Fang said, a hint of admiration in his voice. I smiled.

"I try," I said, dangerously close to Fang. He got closer and closer, inch by inch—

"Oh," Ella said awkwardly. "Sorry." I jumped back at the same time as Fang. "What?" I asked, still dazed.

"Um, no, nothing, I was wondering where Iggy was…" she turned and left, still mumbling incoherent things.

"Max!" Angel called from upstairs. I looked apologetically. "I'll be back," I said, heading up. Fang's look said he'd wait forever.

**A/N: Choppy landing. Didn't like the ending as much. Oh well. Thanks for the feedback, and if you like it, tell me! R&R, please.**


	7. Hachi--Cry your eyes out!

**A/N: Have you watched that movie called "Hachi"? I sobbed my eyes out! Thank you, reviewers: SkyGirl68 and **

"Let's watch a movie!" Angel piped up. She was coloring ponies in this coloring book Fang had gotten her. It had cost two bucks, and it entertained her. With all the predictions, life advice, and messing with my love life, I had almost forgotten she still liked to do little kid stuff.

"I _am_ a little kid," Angel said. "And it's not 'messing with your love life'. It's frustrating, hearing you guys think about each other and wonder if you like each other in the same way."

Well, that was one random outburst. "Go pick a movie, sweetie," I transitioned smoothly. She ran to the shelf and picked a movie. It was "Hachi: a dog's tale." It showed a dog and three smiling faces. Turning it around, I saw it was a "heart-warming family movie." Sure, why not.

"We're watching a movie!" I yelled for the benefit of anyone who was interested. Nudge came down running and Fang poked his head out of the dining room. He actually _closed his computer_ to spend time with me. _Now I know he really loves me. Finally,_ Angel thought in my mind.

Both sat on the couch on either side of me, while Angel preferred the floor. She liked being close to movies. Apparently that's bad for you or something, but whatever. We've survived way, _way_ worse.

Angel fed the movie into the DVD player. The screen came to life as she pressed a button on the side of the TV. We had no remote anymore. Every time we bought a new one, Gazzy or Iggy stole it to make bombs. "Recycling," they called it.

The screen came to life and the movie started. Heart-warming family fun, right? Two hours later, we were all in tears. Except Fang.

"How can you not feel bad for the puppy?" I sobbed at him. He rolled his eyes. "Dog, not puppy. And it's just a dog actor. It's not real or anything."

Excuse Fang. He can be heartless sometimes. Nudge had mascara forming cool patterns on her cheeks, and Angel was holding Celeste tighter, sobbing into the bear's cushy belly.

How horrible was that? "A tale of loyalty and friendship," meant "the poor dog dies outside waiting for this dude."

"Why did you make me watch that?" I gasped out. Angel couldn't even answer. "Going to my room," Nudge choked out.

Fang took my weakness as a chance to take advantage of me. I swear he was enjoying just getting to hold me. He wrapped his arms tighter around me as I soaked his shirt. "She's listening to Adele and crying even more," Angel said.

Iggy walked in with Gazzy, no doubt both of them doing something I didn't approve of but didn't have enough proof to get them in trouble. Gazzy took one look at us.

"Angel? Max? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. Iggy made a face. "Do I hear…crying?"

I nodded once, and I thought I saw Fang roll his eyes. I gave him a light shove then remembered how the man had had the tennis ball in his hands when he died. It was the first time Hachi ever played fetch!

I'm not happy to report I started sobbing again. "The…ball!" I choked out. Angel heard and started crying again.

"Chick flick," Fang said briefly. Iggy nodded as if he had understood something important. He left the room, and Gazzy went upstairs.

I heard the smell of cooking right as Iggy announced, "Pancakes!" I rushed over to the kitchen with Angel. Somehow, Nudge had heard too because she ran down right after.

Her eyes were still red, but when she started eating the pancakes, she tried a watery smile. After a while, we were happy and eating again. I felt—strange. I was tired and dizzy.

I gripped Fang's hand. "Don't feel good," I mumbled. He hadn't had a single pancake. Nudge and Angel looked fine. "Maybe you should go lie down," he suggested.

"Mayb—" I slurred into a sort of coma.

I woke up on my back, on the couch. Fang was holding my left hand as he clicked through his computer with the other. "Uhh?" I groaned.

"You've been out for four hours," he commented. I struggled to form complete thoughts in my mind. "Why?" I slurred.

He looked at me, and then at somewhere on the wall behind the couch. "Look at me," I hissed. "Or do you love the wall now?"

He rolled his eyes but kept them focused on my face. Something was terribly wrong. I had eaten the pancakes and—it was Iggy! Again, I really had no proof. Okay, time to see how good I was at persuasion.

_Look like you're in pain,_ Angel thought at me. _He'll melt right then_. I frowned at winced, as if my head was splitting open. I put my hand to my temple, and furrowed my brows.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worry showing all over his face. _It's working! _I winced again. "It's just…I feel terrible."

I looked up innocently, staring right into Fang's eyes. He was bent over me, and I tried to make my eyes sparkle like Nudge did when she wanted something. "What was it?" I asked.

Fang broke. "Iggy put sleeping pills in your pancake," he whispered, looking around. I smiled up at him and he looked relieved. Looks like I have a new skill—Fang persuasion. _Fang already has Max persuasion,_ Angel thought. _Quit eavesdropping! _I answered.

Did he? I looked at him strangely and he smiled and it was like my brain was melting. Yep, Angel was right. But right now, I had to find Iggy. No time to be staring into each other's eyes when Iggy might be wreaking immeasurable havoc. I got up and started walking out of the living room.

"I thought you weren't feeling well!" Fang protested. "Love you too," I answered. That shut him right up. I ran upstairs and checked my room first. My scream stuck in my throat.

Iggy had taken my phone and was wiring its guts into what used to be my radio. "IGGY!" I shrieked.

He looked up, startled. He hadn't even heard me come in.

Iggy would have to do the dishes and all cooking for Mom for a month. I was so mad; I had gotten a real headache this time. I plopped on the couch and turned my eyes to the TV Fang had already turned on. He was sitting next to me. It was a nature show about jellyfish. Who knew Fang liked jellyfish?

He looked up from his laptop and smirked when he saw me. "What's wrong _now?_" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "Headache," I mumbled.

"You sure?" he teased. I groaned but leaned my head onto his shoulder. I wasn't even mad at Iggy anymore. He'd do it again as soon as I'd get new electronics. Just as I was thinking of him, he walked into the living room timidly.

"Max? I think I know a way to fix your phone." I looked at him. He looked honestly guilty. "Thanks," I said. "You don't have to do the dishes and food," I added.

He quirked his mouth into one of his strange smiles. He left and I turned to Fang. He got up and switched the TV off. He sat back down.

"The guy's voice was getting on my nerves," he muttered. "I was expecting more of a 'jellyfish can't begin to compare to you,'" I replied.

He looked at me amused. "Okay. You're definitely prettier than a jellyfish." I punched him lightly and leaned against him, feeling the warmth radiating from him. He was like a walking heater.

The TV switched on. It showed a commercial for diamonds. It had hearts and sparkles and kissing couples. "Do you want to give that special someone a heartfelt gift? How about a genuine diamond?" I looked at Fang. Way creepy.

I heard Nudge cackle from upstairs. "I got a new power!" she announced, flickering the TV and everyone's phones on and off. Oh, boy.


	8. LA, Baby

**A/N: I felt terrible for not updating. I went two days without writing. Total nightmare. But I was sort of discouraged because I didn't get any reviews. You heard me, people, reviews inspire me and make me update faster! When I get nothing I feel lazy and don't do it. Because, FYI, I ****_do_**** have other things to do. (Homework, hm?)**

**Thank you to:**

**SkyGirl68**

**DarkLove9**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or the L.A. Dodgers.**

"YES! BEACH!" Gazzy screamed across the house, waving his swimsuit around for everyone to see. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder on my stubborn suitcase. It refused to close properly.

Nudge was asking everyone if we'd seen her red bikini, which of course no one had, and that just added to the panic. Flock members were running around, asking for help or trying to find things that had been lost months ago.

All this, my dear friends, was because we were going to L.A. Nudge had been randomly saying "L.A.!" ever since Mom had told us we were leaving three days ago. I was less than thrilled, but I follow the flock around. I remember the good old days when the flock followed _me_ around.

"Do you have sunscreen?" Mom asked Iggy worriedly. He snorted.

"No way. I always fly out in the sun with no kind sunscreen or anything."

He couldn't have found a way to freak Mom out any more.

"What? But your pale complexion! You'll get skin cancer!" she half-shouted, panicking again. Iggy rolled his unfocused eyes and continued stuffing random shirts into his suitcase, not even bothering to fold anything. That's my Iggy, I taught him all he knows.

I finally gave up on trying to zip my suitcase closed. I grabbed a roll of duct tape and taped the whole thing shut, winding the thick gray tape over and over like a belt on it.

"Done!" I proudly announced. Mom poked her head in the door. She shot a questioning look at the duct tape belt, but Angel was already calling across the hallway, needing help reaching something that was too high for her.

I dragged my suitcase over to the hallway next to Ella's. She was the only other one who was packed. She was leaning against the wall, reading a book. She glanced at me and at my suitcase.

"Duct tape really does fix everything," she commented. Fang came out next. He had gotten a black suitcase. Mom was just so considerate. He raised an eyebrow at my suitcase again.

"Yes, I know there's duct tape on it. Why is everyone so surprised? Do you guys think I didn't notice it was there?" I cried out in exasperation.

"High-strung much?" Fang asked. I could have punched him then and there, but that would just prove his damn point. I fumed quietly as Angel came out, dragging a smallish red suitcase. She dropped it heavily on the floor next to the three others. Mom came out and lined hers next to the others.

Gazzy came flying in, swinging his suitcase above our heads, and causing general ruckus again. He finally let his suitcase fall into place after a messy landing. Only one person was missing. That's right: Nudge.

"You don't need to apply that much mascara for us!" Gazzy called out as we were waiting. I shot him a deadly look, but he was just plain annoyed. I glared at Nudge's closed door. Minutes passed.

"Maybe we should go check on her?" Fang suggested. I was about to go in, when Nudge came out. Her hair was carefully arranged to look carefree, and she had a striped shirt with a brown belt over red pants. She had ridiculously huge sunglasses. She pulled her suitcase down to us like a model on the catwalk. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, let's get these suitcases downstairs and out to the car," Mom said. We all spread our wings and took turns flying our suitcases downstairs. That way, it was less heavy.

We somehow got the suitcases into the car. It was more of a van; Mom had gotten it so she could fit the flock, Ella, and Total in it. Plus suitcases. Angel brought Total out of the house. He was appalled that no one had packed for him. That dog is snootier than Nudge, I swear.

We all piled in, Mom and Nudge in the front, Ella, Fang and I in the middle, and Angel, Total, Gazzy and Iggy in the back.

"Ow, my shoulder!" Iggy complained. I ignored him, knowing this wouldn't be the last time someone would complain.

"Are we there yet?" Gazzy moaned. I was ready to wring his neck.

"No, we're not," I said through clenched teeth. "Otherwise we would have stopped."

Logic does not go down well in a tired, crammed-in-a-car flock.

"Shut up," Iggy grumbled. I tried to turn around and say something, but I elbowed Fang instead.

"Ow," he muttered. I saw Mom's hands clench on the steering wheel. How much more of this could she take?

"Dr. Martinez, please don't think that. Murdering children is _illegal,_" Angel said calmly. Nudge was half-singing to a pop song that could be heard all the way in the back. It was some high-pitched song about parties or something.

It finally stopped and I sighed in relief. Just as my ears were recuperating, another pop song started blasting.

"Ooh! Nicki Minaj!" Nudge said. "This one is for the boys with the booming system, top down AC with the cooling system. When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up, got stacks on deck like he savin' up…"

We all groaned as Nudge started rapping about how "he ill he real." She kept going, the song probably too loud for her to hear us. We sat in tense silence. At "that's the kind of dude I was looking fo'," Fang reached over, pulled out her ear buds, and took her iPod from her. He turned it off and we all sighed in relief.

"Hey!" Nudge screamed indignantly. "Give that back!" She put her hand behind her seat, swiping around for her iPod. Fang, meanwhile, had given it to me. I passed it back to Iggy who put it in his pocket.

"We'll give it back when we get there," I told her. She glared at me and turned around.

"I can sing by myself," Nudge muttered. "Yes I did, yes I did. Somebody please tell him who the F I is—"

"Nudge!" I said. "No cursing." She huffed and went on, bent on ruining everyone's day.

"I am Nicki Minaj, I mack them dudes up, back coupes up, and chuck the deuce up…"

"NUDGE! Isn't there a more appropriate song you like?" I asked, stopping her before the lyrics got too nasty. Angel and Gazzy did _not_ need to learn new words. Nudge picked the song she knew would annoy me the most.

"When I was thirteen, I had my first love."

"Stop! STOP!" I screeched. Iggy was begging her to stop too, but Nudge kept going.

"Baby, baby, baby oooo-ooohh, like baby, baby, baby, nooooooo," she sang.

"No more!" Iggy moaned.

"Spare me! Please!" I said, covering my ears.

"QUIET! NOW!" Mom screamed above it all. She swerved around a car. We all fell silent. Nudge stopped singing. For a few tense minutes, there was no movement. Nothing.

"Are we there yet?" Gazzy whined. Mom stopped the car.

We finally arrived at the hotel in L.A. Mom had practically duct taped our mouths shut. Surprisingly, Ella had slept through the whole trip, Nicki Minaj and everything. She came out of the van yawning.

We all dragged ourselves out of the parking lot and into the lobby. Inside, I tried stretching. Gazzy even unfurled his wings, and a few people saw and freaked out. Mom was too busy negotiating things at the front desk. We sat around awkwardly until we saw couches. We all sat down on them gratefully. I gave the younger kids five bucks each so they could buy stuff at the vending machines. They came back two minutes later with candy bars and chips, as well as cokes.

They stuffed their faces while Mom came back, handing Fang, Ella and me key cards. She kept one for herself. We took the stairs up to the second floor. Miss Claustrophobia here didn't want to be crammed in that small elevator.

I opened the door with my key card and we all ran in to the luxury hotel room. It was big, and open. There were beds for everyone, and even a huge chandelier in the middle of the room. Total popped out of the bag where he had been hiding so the no-pets policy wouldn't have kept him out.

Everyone picked a bed. I looked at Mom suspiciously.

"How did you pay for this?" I asked.

"The CSM all chipped in," she answered. "This is a gift from Nino Pierpoint."

Well, nice gift. I picked a bed for myself and set my suitcase on it. Iggy handed me Nudge's iPod, and I gave it back to her. She grabbed it from my hand it cuddled up to it. I think she whispered, "I missed you" to it. Creepy.

"Let's go to the beach!" Angel said. There was a general roar of approval. Mom told all of us to change into bathing suits under our clothes. We all lined up at the bathroom.

"This is heaven," I sighed. I was licking an ice cream cone, salty caramel flavor. I smiled up at Fang, who was licking a cone of "triple chocolate fudge volcano." The warm summer breeze was ruffling my hair and Fang held my hand calmly as we walked towards the beach.

Angel crossed over in front of us, Total chasing her. He was wearing a blue bandana around his neck that proudly advertised the Dodgers. Gazzy ran after them, his "Tropical Explosion" dripping after him. We finally stopped at a place in the beach that had a little less people.

We walked onto the sand and put down a huge umbrella. I put down a towel in the sun, wanting to just relax for a while. Nudge put her towel to my right and put on her heart-shaped sunglasses. Nudge will be Nudge, no matter what.

Gazzy ran over to the ocean with Total, Angel and Iggy. Iggy stayed near the edge of the waves, just feeling the water wash over his feet while Total jumped around him, avoiding the cold blasts as best he could, all while complaining. Angel was playing tag with Gazzy in the water. I could stop worrying.

I closed my eyes for a second, hearing the regular sound of Ella turning pages in her book. I almost fell asleep. But wait, this is my life. I've been relaxed for way too long. Cold water fell on me and I shrieked.

"Wha—" I sputtered, trying to get up. I could hear Gazzy cackling, and a slapping sound that was surely a high-five from Iggy. I wiped the water off my face and glared at them.

"Water fight! Fang, you're on my team!" I said. The flock always played by the rules, no matter what.

"We get Angel," Iggy said.

"Nudge," I said. I unfurled my wings as Nudge sprung up to follow me. I flew over to the water, followed by a shadow that meant Fang. I landed neatly in shallow water, just before the other team.

I used my wings to splash water onto them, then Gazzy flew up and cannonballed right next to me soaking me. I shot down under water, and resurfaced right behind him. I grabbed Gazzy, pulled him up with me a few feet, and dropped him. He snapped his wings open, but not in time to get him out of the water.

He was up to his waist when he shot back up. I flew down, and landed next to Fang. We both swiped water at Iggy. Where was Angel?

Just then, I felt a little tug. I'd drifted into deeper water. Angel pulled me down with surprising strength and I went under. She wouldn't let go, so I started breathing through my gills. I glared at her.

"It's no fun underwater," I argued, my voice making bubbles. She let go of me just as a dark shape swooped down next to me. It was Fang. He started using his gills too, and pointed up. I gave him a thumbs up and shot up, shaking out my wings and soaking Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy.

Nudge pushed Iggy into the water, and Gazzy flew up, no doubt to cannonball again. Angel and Fang resurfaced right after. Gazzy never made it down. Nudge swooped up and dragged him down. Iggy came up again coughing, and Gazzy was tired. Angel seemed bored.

"As team captain," Iggy said hoarsely. "I declare you win." Our team cheered, and I high-fived Nudge and Fang. We swam slowly towards the beach, Angel underwater, probably having an interesting conversation with some fish.

I walked over to where our umbrella was. I lay down on my towel again, this time soaked and tired. "Who won?" Ella asked, not even looking up from her book.

"We did," Fang grinned from next to me. Ella nodded, obviously not listening anymore. More exhausted bird kids came back and dropped onto various towels. Mom looked at us critically. It was the afternoon, the sun would set soon, and people were already leaving.

"How about an early dinner?" she asked. The whole flock cheered. _This trip wasn't really so bad,_ I thought as I packed my stuff. I looked around at the flock, all smiling and laughing. I guess they had had a good day. Fang was smiling too, surprisingly, but he was looking at me.

I smiled back and he took my hand. I was really starting to like L.A.


	9. Pranks in Hollywood

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I took so long. Writer's block. This one's been in the works for five days, but I never really finished until now. Hope you enjoy! And pleeeeaaase review (it does make me update faster!)**

**Thank you to:**

**love-serenades**

**SkyGirl68**

**BlackStarGodliness**

**Spread My Wings and Soar**

** .16**

**R&R!**

"I HAVE BAGS!"

That's what woke me up in the morning. That sentence may not make sense to you, but if you lived with Nudge, it would mean a real crisis. I opened my eyes to see Nudge's face peering over me.

This had already happened once. Ella had solved it, but I forget how. I surveyed Nudge's worried face. Okay, maybe there was a little dark patch under her eyes, but whatever.

What did Ella tell Nudge? "Makeup remover," I mumbled, and turned over in my bed. Nudge ran to the bathroom and her squeal echoed around the fancy hotel room.

"Hey, it was only some leftover mascara!" she said. I don't know who would care at the time, but she did spare me from having to wake up the flock. Iggy was feeling his way out of bed, and Mom was asking what the time was to no one in particular.

"Eight thirty, Dr. Martinez," Fang told her. He got up quickly and headed to the bathroom. I got out of bed too and walked over to Angel's bed. A mass of blond hair covered her face completely.

"Morning, Angel," I said. She moved a little and made a sound I took to be "Well good morning to you too, Max." Or it could have been "Argh I hate you let me sleep." I shook Gazzy gently awake.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"You can eat if you get out of bed," I told him. He got up hesitantly. Total was already awake.

"Can we have ice cream for breakfast?" Total suggested. I rolled my eyes at him. Mom had already gotten up. Well. Time to go visit L.A.

! #$%^&*

"Oooh! These are _so_ pretty!" Nudge gushed. "How do you get a star on the Hollywood walk of fame? Can I get one? 'Cause, you know, we're bird kids and all, so we're pretty famous. Do you think I'd have to have Nudge written on it? I'd rather another name. I thought of a really cool one: Sienna Diamond Rosebud Cherry La Rouge. Sounds pretty French right? What if they actually thought I was French? What if there's this real French person with that same exact name? What if they saw the star and went all like 'Why is my name there?'"

I looked at Nudge, honestly not sure how to respond. Was that whole speech even a question? I smiled and nodded. She had been even more hyper since we'd been in Hollywood. She even got a shirt that had a director's chair on it, and she'd gotten it personalized with "Jessica Miranda Alicia Tangerine Butterfly" on one side, and "Nudge" on the other. She had gotten really short shorts that had "Hollywood" written all over them.

She looked like an ad for the place. Happily, she just kept slurping her frostee and walked on. I _guess_ I was enjoying it. I mean, we were sort of _walking_ on the stars everyone was so hyped about. I wasn't really in the mood for a frostee, though the younger kids were. I walked on, tired and hot, while Ella read out fun facts about the place from this guidebook she had bought.

"Hey Max! Did you know that each star weighs 300 pounds?" Ella called out. No, Max did not know. There a tons of things Max doesn't know. Max did not go to school _at all._

"And Lassie even has a star!" she added.

"Where is it?" Total asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. I groaned and tried to move away from them. We'd been knee-deep in tourists for about two hours. I needed a break. Luckily, that break was suggested right then by Mom.

"Who wants frozen yogurt?" she asked, and everyone cheered. I didn't think it would be wise to say they already had frostees, and accepted it as a way to take a break from sightseeing.

"I'll stay out here," I said as the others headed in. Iggy and Fang also stayed back. Mom shot us a warning look, to Fang and I more specifically. _Please,_ Iggy is the least innocent one of the three of us.

I sat down on a bench, the heat making my shirt stick to me. Fang tried to act cool and stay standing, but soon sat down beside me.

"How are you liking L.A.?" Fang asked. I looked over to him and stared deep into his dark eyes.

"Good," I answered, not tearing my gaze from his face. His eyes were staring right into mine.

"Finally, alone time," he whispered, leaning in close. We were only inches apart, and I swear he was going to kiss me when I had a scary thought.

"Where's Iggy?" I asked, abruptly ruining our moment. Fang spun around, but there was no tall, pale mutant bird boy in sight. I swore quietly.

"We have to find him before he implodes L.A," I said, already springing up from the bench.

! #$%^&*

Iggy smiled. He had heard Max and Fang whispering, and he figured he had a while until they noticed he wasn't there anymore. He skimmed through shelves, wondering what he was pretending to look at. He had heard people outside talking about this store. Apparently this was a store with pranks and explosives.

"Hey Iggy," a voice said. Iggy turned around, having recognized the footsteps even before the voice.

"Gazzy!" he answered, trying to hide how glad he was to see his young friend. He really had no idea what the things were, as he was facing boxes. He felt they had colors on them: red, blue, green, and yellow. Big help.

"Max and Fang don't know I'm here. They're sucking face or something. Let's grab some cool stuff and go. It's on me," Iggy explained, breathless. He heard the crumple of the Gasser's shirt that meant he had nodded.

They went along the shelves, once in a while Gazzy murmuring things.

"Itching powder… fake turd… whooppee cushion…" he went along the shelves, once in a while Iggy nodded and Gazzy grabbed something from a rack.

! #$%^&*

"IGGY!" I screeched. He was nowhere to be found. Of course. I cupped a hand above my eyes, searching the horizon for Iggy. I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I screamed and turned around. There were Gazzy and Iggy, innocent smiles plastered on their faces. Gazzy had a balloon vaguely shaped like a pirate tied around his wrist.

"Where _were_ you?" I asked, relieved beyond comprehension.

"Iggy bought me a balloon," the Gasman said, sort of stating the obvious. Iggy smiled too widely as he ruffled Gazzy's hair. They were being suspicious to say the least, but as long as Erasers hadn't taken them, hey, fine with me.

I smiled in relief as Nudge, Angel, Mom and Ella came out of the frozen yogurt place, Total trailing behind. Mom came up to us, leading her part of the flock like their were girl scouts.

"There you were, Gazzy. Lost you for a second there," she told him. Gazzy looked at me, obviously saying, I wish you were calm like her.

I didn't say a thing. I just followed the flock as we walked around the streets of L.A. I was trying to block out Ella's fun facts as Gazzy came up to me and hugged me. I was surprised, looking down at him. He _never_ hugged me randomly like that.

He ran off quickly, stuffing what looked like a plastic wrapper into his pocket. I was suddenly uncomfortable, and my shirt was, like, full of sand, or so it seemed. I squirmed around. I suddenly felt fire all over my skin, and started scratching at it. I couldn't stop, the scratching relieving the itching for a second but then making it worse.

I couldn't even walk anymore. I stopped just to scratch better. The fire on my skin was only getting worse. Everyone else stopped, surveying me strangely.

"Gazzy!" Angel scolded. I glared at the bird kid in question.

"Itching powder," Fang said. I glared at Gazzy, who was shrinking away from me. Mom sighed loudly.

"We're going back to the hotel," she said. I nodded and kept pawing at my skin, scratching my waist then my arms.

! #$%^&*

"Feeling better?" Iggy shot me a guilty glance. I looked at him.

"Yeah, I guess," I mumbled. His face lit up into a big grin and I couldn't help but smile back. Iggy had that kind of effect on people.

Fang sat on the edge of my bed. I had finally stopped scratching after I practically doused myself with anti-itch cream Mom had bought me. I finally felt better, but the angry marks my long nails had left still stung. I flopped down onto the bed, tired by the long day.

"Ew!" Nudge shrieked, dropping what frankly looked like dog turd. She had taken it out of her makeup bag. She shot an accusing glare at the only dog present.

"Total?" Nudge asked. He looked outraged.

"Why me? Why? How could I have done that! I'm more civilized than all of you combined! Of course, blame the dog," Total fumed.

Iggy and Gazzy were contorted with hysterical laughter. They slapped a high-five between fits of giggling. The whole flock glared at them. Gazzy was the firs to calm down.

"Sorry," he said, but he was still giggling, so it wasn't very convincing. They silently edged away. I decided to let it go. We _were_ on vacation. I sat quietly back onto my bed, Fang right behind me. I did a quick three-sixty. No one was watching us.

I leaned onto Fang, honestly exhausted. He found my hand and we just sat there for a second in comfortable silence. Finally, I looked up and he edged closer, and closer—

PPPRRRRRRRRT! A huge farting sound filled the room. All eyes turned to us. It was probably a whooppee cushion the boys had gotten into my bed somehow. I was about to scream bloody murder and _kill_ those two boys, when Fang cut it short by finally kissing me. I guess it was Iggy and Gazzy's lucky day.


	10. Breakfast in Bed

**A/N: A short one, sort of a teaser chapter. **

**SPOILERS FOR NEVERMORE**************

**The idea came to me when I thought about Angel being the Voice. She could just use the Voice and have Max bring her breakfast in bed.**

**END SPOILER*************************

**Enjoy!**

I woke up with a need to make breakfast. I needed to make breakfast, and bring it to Angel's bed. I hopped out of bed, bent on fulfilling my mission. It felt like everything I thought I wanted, Fang, safety, a home for the flock, was all wrong. What I wanted was to make Angel breakfast in bed. It was my destiny—I was here on Earth to make Angel breakfast.

I walked downstairs, took out some bacon and waffles from the freezer. I knew what to do, like I was somebody else. I watched myself put them in the microwave, punch in some numbers, and wait. I got out the orange juice and poured a tall glass. The microwave dinged, and I put the waffles and bacon on a plate. I took out butter, spread it on the waffles, and then poured maple syrup on them.

I walked upstairs, still dazed. I had just cooked successfully. No way. I opened the door to Angel's room. She was sitting up, wide awake. She snapped her fingers just as I handed her the tray.

All my tiredness and headache came back in a rush. I wasn't feeling the bliss, or the faraway feeling.

"ANGEL! Did you mind-control me into making you breakfast?" I asked, indignant. She smiled through a huge mouthful of waffle.

"I was too tired to get up," she explained innocently. As if that justified everything. I frowned at her but she turned her Bambi eyes onto high. I just shrugged and tried to go to my room.

I walked through the hallway like a zombie. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped me into a hug. I barely had time to process it was Fang. _You guys are just too cute,_ Angel thought at me.

I leaned into him, feeling tired and dizzy all of a sudden. He held me up though the rest of me was shutting down.

! #$%^&*

Fang held her quietly, breathing in her familiar smell. His day was really looking up. He felt her weight drop on him, and he struggled to hold her upright.

"Max?" he asked. No reply. Her soft breathing told him she had fallen asleep. Great. Fang picked her up and carried her down the stairs. He set her down on the couch and wrapped a blanket around her. She didn't wake up, and Fang left, leaving her in her dreams.

"ZOMG," Nudge breathed. Angel was right behind her.

"Iggy has sleeping pills," Angel said. Nudge looked over at her, and evil expression on her face.

"Go get them and a glass of water. Quick!" Nudge whispered, and Angel ran off. Max was already stirring in her sleep.

"Fang?" she asked, not really awake. Nudge gulped, not knowing what do to.

"Y-yeah?" she said, in the deepest voice she could manage. Apparently it was an okay impersonation, because Max nodded slightly and turned over, luckily still asleep. Nudge breathed a sigh of relief.

Angel came in carrying the glass of water and the pill. Nudge fed the pill into Max's mouth, and splashed water on top until she finally swallowed. It would knock her out for an hour or two. Just enough time to continue with Operation Princess.

! #$%^&*

"Fang?" I asked weakly, struggling to wake up from a deep sleep. I heard a distinctly Nudge-like voice mutter, _Is that all she can say?_

I fluttered my eyes open. My eyelids were heavy, gooey almost. I felt scratchy cloth under me. Me eyes opened more and I registered the hot pink color. I was wearing a full-sized fluffy, puffy, pink princess gown.

"Get me out of this!" I shrieked.

"Hey, you're up," Angel chuckled.

"I liked you better when all you could say was 'Fang'," Nudge added, laughing.

I glared at the two girls and they just giggled more.

"Oh Fangy! Iggy! Gasser! She's ready!" Angel called. The rest of the flock came in. Gazzy had a camera. I screeched and tried to cover my face. My hands came back full of pink and black goop. They had put makeup on me.

I ran after the flock, Gazzy still clicking pictures. They ran outside, but I tripped on my pile of pink. I ripped it off, glad at the last moment that they had left my pajamas on under. I snapped my wings out and flew up into the air.

Most of the flock had scattered, but Fang was hovering in the air, waiting for me. He smirked at the sight of me.

"The beauty turned back into a beast," he remarked. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You looked pretty," he remarked.

"I hope you didn't like Princess-Max better than me, because you'll never see her again," I warned.

He just grinned at me and shot off. I roared and tried to catch him. He was too fast, so I used my super-speed to catch him. I kind of overshot and flew right past him. He laughed and headed down to the front door where everyone was lining up.

"Dr. M is making breakfast!" Gazzy called up. I nodded and landed lightly with the others, not even mad at them anymore. I went in and closed the front door behind me.

Ella was at the table, looking tired but dressed for school. She was munching on some cereal.

"I'm making eggs!" she called to us. We all nodded. Mom knew our favorites: poached for Iggy, scrambled for Fang and Nudge, omelet for Gazzy, and fried for Angel and I. I mean seriously, who eats fancy things like _poached eggs_ early in the morning? Oh wait, Iggy does.

We all sat down at the table, showering a few feathers from our random flying. Mom passed out plates with our respective eggs, and Ella ran out to go to school. Angel started chewing her way through her second breakfast. Greedy little kid. _Hey, I heard that! _

As I was eating and ignoring Angel's glares, Mom said goodbye to us and left for work. It was a typical Tuesday for us here at the flock.


	11. AN

**A/N: Sorry this isn't a chapter, but PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH!**

**I have no more plot ideas for this. I could:**

**A) End it.**

**B) Take requests and continue this indefinitely.**

**I hoping you guys help me pick B!**

**Just send in anything, just something you want to see the flock do (go skydiving, explode a small european village, whatever). Then, I'll make it into an awesome, funny, full-length chapter you love! Please send in ideas, or this is the last chapter for Snippets. Thanks!**

**Fly on!**

**~greysky3**


	12. Disney vs Puppets

**A/N: Thank you for the feedback! I sort of incorporated your ideas: I heard Disney movie and Lion King, and a funny blog post. The skydiving thing probably won't happen. ****_Why_**** would they even want to skydive? But it's not scratched out from the inspiration list. Thanks for helping, and enjoy!**

Another movie. Yeah, I know, you're probably wondering if that's all we do here. I mean, we're at Mom's, and we sort of have nothing to do. Well, when Ella and Mom aren't home, we watch movies.

I don't really like movies. Neither does Fang, or Iggy obviously. Iggy especially hates action movies. He's always asking what's getting blown up and interrupting. Nudge and Angel wanted to watch a movie. It _had_ to be a Disney movie.

They picked out "The Lion King." I know, terrible choice. Five minutes later, Iggy, Fang and I had sprinted upstairs to escape the annoying music. Fang and Iggy ran into the boys' room, and tried going into the one I shared with Angel and Nudge.

They had locked the door. That's really nice of them, when it's also _my_ room. It also makes me very suspicious. _What could be in there that they don't want me to see?_

After a few annoying minutes where I just jiggled the doorknob, I decided to crash the boys' room. Gazzy was somewhere outside. Last time I'd seen him, he'd been asking around if anyone had seen his flamethrower. Long story, involving cupcakes, Bambi eyes, and birthdays. Anyway, I opened the door to the boys' room. Thankfully, it wasn't locked.

Fang was on his bed, typing away at his computer. Iggy was sprawled on his, not doing anything in particular. Maybe he was dreaming up some new explosives. I sat next to Fang and just waited. Not looking up from his screen, he pulled me closer with one hand while still typing with the other.

I looked over at the computer screen. He was typing up another blog entry.

**Yo,**

**We've been in the same spot for a while now. We're visiting someone close to us, and we're staying on the west coast for a while. Surprisingly, we haven't seen any Itex-related creepy things lately. Hmm. Maybe we're on vacation. Or maybe they found something even more evil to play with.**

**Either way, we're lying low for now. The kids are downstairs watching a movie, Gazzy's torching the state with his flamethrower, and I'm here in my room with Iggy.**

**Oh, and here's Max. Well, keep busting up those secret locations.**

He clicked on something and there was a ding as the entry was posted. I leaned back as he clicked through comments.

"Look at these," Fang said. I moved closer to the screen.

**Awesomegoat:** say hi to Iggy for me! We're totes gonna get MARRRIEEEEED!

**SkyGirl68: **OMG FANG I LOVE U SOMUCH!

**Spread My Wings and Soar:** are you guys together already :)

**BlackStarGodliness:** I dare you to go interrupt the movie!

**DarkLove9:** Fang, were r u? can i go visit u?

"I never turn down a dare," I said, pointing to the second-to-last one. Fang smirked.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said. It was so suggestive I whapped him then ran downstairs. Everyone had eyes that were glazed over.

"Enough TV!" I said. No one looked up, their faces glued to the cartoon lions. I walked over to the TV and pulled the plug. They seemed to snap out of it.

"Hey!" Angel whined.

"What did you do that for?" Nudge said. Gazzy popped out of nowhere. He looked guilty, and that always means bad things.

"Where's the fire extinguisher?" Gazzy asked. I got it from the kitchen and handed it to him.

"Dr. M didn't _really_ like that old shed, did she?" he asked again. A picture was starting to form in my mind, and it wasn't pretty.

He ran out the front door, and ashes blew in along with the smell of charred shed à la flamethrower. I sighed and turned to the two angry bird girls in front of the dark screen.

"What are we going to do now?" Nudge whined.

"Anything that doesn't require a screen," I answered. Angel had a scary glint in her eye.

"Anything at all?" she asked. I knew I was going to regret this later but I nodded.

"Let's do a puppet show!" Angel said. Nudge made a face then angled her head like she was listening. Angel frowned and concentrated. They were probably mind-talking.

Both bird girls smiled widely and I took that as my cue to leave. I went back into Fang's room. He was still with his laptop on the bed, and it looked like Iggy hadn't moved either.

I sat right next to Fang so that there was no gap between us. I leaned my head on his shoulder, hoping to get his attention. Magically, he closed his laptop. I shot a glance at Iggy. He wouldn't notice anything, as long as we were quiet.

I turned back towards Fang and he cupped my face in his hand. He leaned in and kissed me, savoring the moment.

We stayed pressed together for a moment, everything I might have been thinking in the background. I was running out of breath but didn't want to pull away.

"I can still hear!" Iggy protested. I jumped back, snapping out of my daze. "Get a room," he muttered.

"This _is_ my room," Fang pointed out. Iggy's eyes widened.

"Ew! Wait a sec, let me at least leave!" he said, scrambling off of his bed and grabbing his iPod.

I rolled my eyes at Mr. Dramatic, but of course it was wasted. "Rolling my eyes," I called. Iggy didn't answer.

We really weren't _that_ shameless. Were we? My deep thoughts were interrupted by Nudge shouting.

"EVERYONE COME DOWN MANDATORY PUPPET SHOW OR HEADS WILL ROLL!" I hurried down.

"Well, when you put it that way…" I muttered. The rest of the flock was gathered neatly in the living room. We were all terrified of Nudge's _other side._

There was a tall table with a cloth taped in front of it, covering the space underneath the table for us. Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy crawled under, hidden by the blanket.

Nudge popped out her hands. On one, there was a roll of cloth with a blob of black felt. Her other hand had a square of brown cloth.

"I love you sooo much," the black-blobbed hand said in Nudge's ridiculously low voice.

"Me too Fang," the brown-blobbed hand said, this time the voice switched to high. Oh my god. It was Fang and I, puppet-style. I almost burst out laughing right there. Fang was making a face.

"I don't really sound like that, do I?" Fang whispered. Angel shushed him from behind the table. While puppet-Max and puppet-Fang were cooing over each other, there was a puppet with an orange blob.

"BOOM!" Gazzy said, perfectly imitating Iggy's voice. Another blob, this time blond, sat on another hand, also Gazzy's.

"High-five!" Gazzy said in his normal voice. He awkwardly smashed his two hands together.

"Ouch," I mumbled.

"Could someone care to tell me what's happening?" Iggy said irritably. He was answered by a general reprimand.

Angel whipped out her hands. There was one hand with a blond square and one with a black one. I guess they had no dark brown.

"Hi Nudge!" blond blob said.

"Hi Angel! You're, like, so pretty and amazing. MASCARA!" black blob said. We all chuckled. It was a pretty good impersonation of Nudge.

"Let's fly off into the sunset while staring into your eyes," puppet-Max said.

"I could spend the rest of my life with you," puppet-Fang answered. We weren't that corny! The _real_ Fang and I frowned at this.

"Let's blow up the sky!" Gazzy sang in his normal voice.

"As long as there are hot girls!" Iggy's creepily accurate voice answered.

"Hey!" the real Iggy said.

"OMG LET'S PAINT THE COUNTRY PINK!" Angel screamed in a "Nudge" voice.

"Help me take over the world!" Angel said. I laughed. Now _that_ one was accurate.

"It's not accurate!" Angel protested, waving her puppet along with her words. Finally, all of the puppets flew down to behind the table, Max-puppet still making out with Fang-puppet.

We all clapped. Honestly, it was pretty funny. Except for mine. I do _not _sound like that. _You sorta do._

I glared at Angel. _No, I don't. _ She shrugged in an I-don't-want-to-burst-your-bubble way. I clapped anyway, but my hands got tired and I stopped. The younger kids were giving out the puppets to the bird kid they were supposed to look like.

Mine was sort of abstract. It was a cone of felt, with a circle that suggested a face and a square that suggested hair. Fang's was as detailed, but with a shorter blac cloth for hair.

"Can I have yours?" he asked. I handed it to him, and he gave me mine. I looked at it. As abstract as it was, you could still imagine it was Fang. I smiled up at him, holding his puppet close.

"Aw!" Nudge said from behind me. I glared at her and she left, but our moment was ruined. Everyone was heading of to bed. I changed into my pajamas and went to bed like everyone else.

That night, I did something for the first time. I slept with a plushie. Well, not really. I just slept with Fang's puppet hugged to my chest. Angel told me in my mind that he also had mine.

**A/N: Oh my god I am so going to make those. Review please!**


	13. Prank Calls

**A/N: Hey guys! This one's mainly in 3rd person, following around Gazzy and his mischief... Yeah...**

**Well, enjoy!**

* * *

"Hello? This is Valencia Martinez," Gazzy imitated perfectly, holding the phone in one hand.

"Hello, Mrs. Martinez," the voice on the other side of the line answered.

"_Doctor_ Martinez," Gazzy added.

"Well, yes, Dr. Martinez. I wanted to discuss your daughter's behavior. She skipped school yesterday, missing the whole afternoon."

"Did she?" Gazzy asked, managing to sound horrified. Iggy stifled a laugh, slinging an arm protectively over Ella, who was chuckling too.

"Yes. There were no sanctions, since this is the first time this has occurred, and she has had exemplary behavior before. I don't know what happened," the secretary told him, genuinely concerned.

"I don't know either. And rest assured-I will have a serious talk with her. Goodbye," Gazzy hung up rather abruptly. He slammed down the phone and started laughing hard, Ella and Iggy joining in.

"Oh, man," he said in his normal voice, still cackling. "Did you hear her?"

"High-five!" Iggy said, holding up his hand. Gazzy smacked it with his quickly.

"She was all like 'I wanted to discuss your daughter's behavior,'" he laughed. He turned to Iggy and his face fell.

"Twenty bucks. Fork it up," he said, suddenly all business. Iggy sighed and pulled a twenty out of his pocket.

"Here," he grumbled. The Gasman used his winning I'm-a-cute-little-eight-year-old smile.

"Was the date worth playing hooky for?" Gazzy asked.

"Definitely," Ella asked. She linked her arm with Iggy's and they walked off. Gazzy smiled evilly. He could use his power to his advantage, in an even more evil way than before. _Thanks for the idea, Iggy._

! #$%^&*

Ethan hated his job. He took the calls for the pizza place, and was also the delivery boy. On top of all of that, he was underpaid. Ethan sighed as the phone rang.

"Hello? Pete's Pizza, how may I help you?" he recited.

"Hi. I'd like to order one large plain pizza, on large Hawaiian, and one large pepperoni," a girl's voice said. She sounded like a teen. Ethan laughed.

"You have an appetite," he said.

"Yeah," she said shyly.

"And to who do I have the honor of delivering this pizza to?" he asked. The girl laughed.

"Max. 220 Hammond Drive," she said. "See you soon." She hung up.

"Whoa," Ethan muttered to himself. Some girl. If only she was as pretty as she sounded.

* * *

The doorbell rang and Gazzy immediately knew it was the hormonal guy he'd flirted with as Max. This one was going to be a prank to remember.

"I'll get it!" Max shouted, just as Gazzy knew she would. She ran down the stairs and yanked the door open. The delivery guy stared at her, openmouthed, but she didn't even notice.

"Who ordered pizza?" she asked, turning her head in, towards the house. Gazzy popped up right at the moment and handed her a twenty. She looked back over at the guy. She read his nametag.

"Oh, hi Ethan. Sorry we ordered so much. Um, how much will it be?" she asked.

"What do you mean who ordered? I talked to you on the phone!" she stammered, regaining his senses.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't," she answered. She gave him the money and he handed over the warm bags of pizza. Max flung the pizza at Gazzy, who caught it expertly.

"Hey, do you think maybe we could hang out sometime?" Ethan asked. Max raised an eyebrow at him. The next thing she knew, a dark figure had appeared behind her. He steered her away from the door and kissed her so Ethan wouldn't get any ideas.

Fang closed the door on the delivery guy. They hadn't broken apart.

"Hey! I'm still here!" Gazzy protested. They untangled reluctantly. Gazzy smiled and left the room.

"One more pizza delivery guy we scarred," Max said jokingly. She leaned into Fang to make their way upstairs. Gazzy wasn't gone, though. He'd just gotten his hands on the home phone. He cackled again as he dialed Max's cell phone number, his mouth full with a slice of pizza.

* * *

You know your boyfriend is possessive when he kisses you in front of this poor sap that was at the door. He was just another get-a-lifer delivery guy. I was lying down on my bed, back to doing nothing. Fang had stayed in my room for a while then he'd gone back to his laptop.

I was about to get up when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I didn't even look to see who was calling when I put the phone up to my ear.

"Hey," Fang's voice said.

"Why are you calling?" I asked. "You're across the hall from me."

"I thought it would be more romantic this way," he said. I laughed.

"Okay then, what now?"

"Tell me a secret, something you've never told the younger kids, not even Gazzy." I frowned.

"Why?"

"Um, no reason?" his voice went up at the end.

"Fang, why are you so weird?" I asked.

"Uh, bye." The phone disconnected.

I pushed into Fang's room without knocking. I was in there so much it was practically my second room. "What the hell?" I asked.

"Huh?" he looked up from his blog.

"What was that phone call about?" I said.

"I didn't call you," he said. Things were starting to click. _Tell me a secret, something you've never told the younger kids, not even Gazzy. _Why Gazzy specifically?

"GASMAN!" I shouted, running downstairs. I caught him with the phone in hand, a slice of pizza in the other.

"Sorry," he said. I glared at him.

"Why did you want to hear a secret?" I asked.

"To hear some gushy love stuff to blackmail you with," he chuckled. I sighed.

"Don't do it again."

"Yessir!" he said so earnestly I ruffled his hair and forgave him. Right then, the keys were turning in the entrance. Mom was home.

"I'm home!" she said, right on cue. Iggy and Ella appeared way too quickly.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, hugging Ella. If she had it her way, she'd hug all of us when she got home from work, but the flock wasn't great with all those touchy-feely things.

"I have to call the school, Ella, about that advanced placement program," she said, distracted. I saw an unmistakably guilty look on both of them. I pointed at Iggy behind Mom's back, then did the universal "you're dead meat" sing.

Ella whispered something to Iggy and he paled, if it was possible to get even paler than he already was. Mom picked up the phone, the three of us creeping in to watch. Gazzy was even here. He was around a lot today, wasn't he?

Mom dialed a number then we heard garbled speech. "Oh, hello. I'd like to speak with the secretary." Then was a tense wait.

"Oh yes." There was a pause. "What do you mean? I haven't talked to you today at all," she said, puzzled. Iggy looked like he wanted to edge out of the room and Ella was blushing furiously.

"Are you sure it was me?" Another pause. "Couldn't it be someone who just _sounds_ like me?"

She agreed few more times then hung up. "_Iggy,"_ she said.

"Hey! You should be talking to the one who can _imitate voices,_" he pointed out.

"GASSER!" I shouted, and lo and behold, there he was.

"_Gazzy,"_ Mom said with the same voice she used on Iggy.

"I'm sorry Dr. Martinez," he said, opening his blue eyes wide. Mom faltered.

"Promise you won't ever do that again," Mom said again. Gazzy nodded enthusiastically. He ran upstairs and Mom looked at Iggy and Ella.

"You two are in trouble. I'll tell you if I think of punishment." she sighed and went up to her room. I was looking forward to leave too, but Nudge ran downstairs.

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!" she screamed.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"OneDirectioniscomingtoourhou seforaprivateconcerttomorrow andtheycansignmyshirtandmyro omnowayright?"

"How do you know that for sure?" I asked. For those of you at home who have no training in dealing with a hyper Nudge, this is the translation of the sentence: _One Direction is coming to our house for a private concert tomorrow and they can sign my shirt and my room, no way right? _

Nudge looked surprised by my question. "How do you _think_ I know? They just called me!"

* * *

**A/N: Well you can guess who ****_that_**** was. REVIEW PLEASE, IT'S WHAT KEEPS ME GOING!**


	14. Spring Cleaning (Spring Apocalypse!)

**A/N: Tons of inspiration for this one! And it's really long, too!**

**Well. Read and review!**

* * *

It was the freaking _apocalypse._

"IGGY!" Gazzy's indignant voice rang out.

"GAZZY!" he replied, equally loudly.

"QUIT BLAMING ME!" they both screamed in unison. It was coming from Iggy and the Gasman's room. I ran towards the loud noise and found that the shelf they had on the wall had actually _fallen off. _Ig and Gazzy were running around, trying to conceal suspicious pieces of wiring before Mom saw it.

I helped them stuff everything on the ground into a box as quickly as I could. Right then, Nudge came in.

"YOU TOOK MY NAIL POLISH!" she shrieked.

"It was flammable," Gazzy argued, busy trying to lift the shelf while Iggy ran around looking for the fallen screws.

"Nudge, I'll buy you more tomorrow and they'll get in trouble, but now is not the moment…"

"WHO TOOK MY LAPTOP?" This time it was Fang. He ran into the room, wild-eyed, and Nudge was looking pretty guilty. This definitely qualifies as an apocalypse. But let me back up to this morning to when it all started.

I was eating breakfast calmly, with no kind of crazy, weird thing to fix or do, or no angry bird kids running around. The whole flock was just sitting around the table, tired, munching on random stuff Iggy had cooked.

Ella was there too, since it was Saturday. She was complimenting Iggy's omelet when Mom burst in. Seven pairs of sleepy eyes turned to her. She was holding a broom and looking unusually happy. Strangest of all, she was _dressed_ on a Saturday morning.

"Spring-cleaning, everyone!" she sang. Gazzy reacted first. He made a face.

"What's that?" the Gasman asked.

"I saw it on TV once," Iggy muttered. "It's forced labor normal people do every spring."

"Can't we, like, get chocolate and eggs instead?" Nudge moaned.

"Maybe after you clean," Mom said.

"But we're not even dressed yet," I said, motioning to Gazzy's airplane pajamas and Fang's ratty old Green Day shirt. Nudge's had so many sparkles, flowers and pink things it would hurt my eyes to describe them again.

"There are rules," Mom said. She actually made _rules,_ like this was some kind of game. Can you believe that, people?

"When breakfast is over, you have ten minutes to get dressed. Then, you each clean your own room. When you're done your room, come down to the living room and I'll go check your room and check you off the list. If you don't finish by lunchtime, you get to help me with the rest of the house all afternoon."

She practically uttered a death sentence. We were terrible at cleaning, and no one wanted to spend all afternoon with Mom in neat-freak mode.

"Breakfast ends now. Ten minutes." I raced upstairs, jumping into my room and closing the door. I had a room to myself, and so did Fang. Iggy had to share with Gazzy, and Nudge with Angel. There are some privileges to being the oldest two.

I threw on a random shirt. It advertised some concert. It was probably Ella's. My shorts I slept in seemed good enough.

I burst through my door and there was Fang.

"You got dressed fast," I said, knowing that for the flock ten minutes was more than enough time to get dressed. Nudge would probably be having trouble, but she could deal.

Fang looked down at his watch. "We still have seven minutes," she said. I turned around and opened the door to my room, shutting it lightly after me. I crashed on my bed, still tired.

I guess I should tell you why I was so tired. Well, I have to go back to last night.

_I woke up, tears streaming down my face. What was that dream? I remembered fire, the world exploding. There was a new world, full of light and greenery. I saw next to me Angel and Fang, and some other guy I didn't know. He was saying my name like I did, though._

_I couldn't find the rest of my flock. But worst of all—I didn't care about them. It was like I'd just forgotten._

_I clutched at my hair, tugging experimentally to see if I would feel better. The horrible feeling never left me._

_Walking out of my room, I sped downstairs to get a glass of water. I heard the sound of the TV on. Fang was in front of the couch, half watching the movie and half blogging on his laptop._

"_Hey," he said, looking up at me._

"_Hey," I answered softly, sitting down next to him. "What are you watching?"_

"_Um," he said, looking up. "Soap-opera, apparently." He looked at me with worried eyes. "Why are you up so late?"_

"_Bad dream," I answered, trying to remember it but not really grasping at anything except the feeling of fear._

"_You should go to bed," he said, pulling me closer so I could snuggle into his chest._

"_Then why are you holding on to me?" I laughed._

"_Good point," he answered._

"_Let's watch a movie," I said._

"_Sure." I went up to the shelf and picked out a movie. I put it in the TV, and it started playing. Half an hour into the movie, Iggy came down with Ella._

"_We heard some noise," Iggy said._

"_We?" I asked. Iggy blushed a little. _

"_You keep quiet, and I will," he said, referring to—oh, never mind, you don't need to hear that one. I _need _to get my hands on his camera and delete that picture before anyone gets the wrong idea of Fang and I. _

_The two lovebirds (the_ other _two lovebirds) got into the other couch together. Ten minutes later, Nudge and Angel came down wordlessly and sat at my feet, eyes trained on the movie. Gazzy had been woken up when Iggy left their room, so he finally came down after giving up on sleeping._

After that, the movie finished and we realized it was morning. Iggy quickly made breakfast so it would look like we got up early. That pretty much caught us up.

So I was lying down on my bed, dead tired, of course with Fang right next to me, and seven minutes to kill. Well.

I snuggled into Fang's warmth, trying to maybe sleep. He was twirling a strand of my hair softly as I drifted off. He gently placed a kiss on my forehead, and I was just about to go to sleep in heaven, when Mom-turned-bootcamp yanked the door open.

"Ten minutes are u—" she stopped when she saw us on the bed. "MAX!"

"Sorry, sorry," I grumbled. "But the rules only said you had to be dressed. I'm dressed."

I didn't even bother to move, but Fang had sat up, ramrod straight, on the edge of the bed. Mom shot us a last glare and left.

"I have to go clean my room," Fang said. I smiled at him.

"Will you come over to help when you're done?" I asked. He nodded and left. I looked at my room. I had a desk overflowing with papers; pencils, and things, dirty clothes were strewn around the floor. I spotted somebody's sneaker (Gazzy), a mascara wand (Nudge), and a tangle of covers on my bed.

I yanked the covers all off in a random burst of fury. _Great job, Max, now there's even _more _of a mess. _On the bed, I saw a small scrap of sewn-up cloth. I picked it up carefully and saw it was Fang's puppet. I smiled at its nondescript features and placed it gently on a chair. I surveyed the room. No way I would ever be able to clean all of this before lunch, at noon, when it was in three hours.

I spotted the closet I never used. I used my _other_ closet for clothes sometimes. I gathered all of the dirty clothes and flung them in there. I turned to the non-clothes closet. I'd opened it once and seen Ella's old stuff. I opened the creaky door. It had _plenty_ of room on the floor.

I grabbed an armful of desk junk and dropped it into the closet. Clean. I kicked everything on the floor towards there. The closet was now full of stuff, but my room was clean. Mission accomplished.

I closed the closet door and went to find Fang. He was in his room, listening to music. He paused when he saw me.

"Done already?" he asked me.

"I should ask you the same thing," I said. His room was impeccable. Fang smirked.

"I have to see this," he said, closing his computer and taking out his earphones. I opened his door and we walked together to my room, ignoring the shouting and crashing around the house.

His face registered surprise when he saw my clean (albeit empty) room. He scanned all of it and his eyes fell on his puppet, sitting on a made-ish bed (meaning I dropped the covers back on in no particular order).

After a quick, amused glanced at me, he walked towards the closet. He knew me so well.

"No! Don't!" I said, wondering if the stuff would stay in.

"Why?" he asked. I caught up to him and inched closer, opening my eyes wide.

"Please?" I said, an inch away from his face. He almost faltered, his eyes staring deep into mine. He yanked the door open and papers; clothes, pens, pencils and old bowls fell out. Jerk. I glared at Fang.

"Look what you did!" I huffed. "Now help me clean up," I said, stuffing it all back in. Just then, a box fell out, whacking me on the head.

I almost fell over. "Ow," I muttered.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh, now you care?" I snarled. "Help me clean."

Fang sighed and decided to actually be helpful for once. He helped me pick up the box and shove it into the top shelf, when another one fell down.

"It's like whack-a-mole," he commented, putting the box of old pictures back into its place. An old trophy of Ella's fell down, knocking down Gazzy's baseball bat.

I was about to ask someone why there were things that didn't belong to me in _my_ closet when I heard a loud crash. It practically rocked the house.

Back to the apocalypse.

"IGGY!"

"GAZZY!"

"QUIT BLAMING ME!"

It was coming from Iggy and the Gasman's room. I ran towards the loud noise and found that the shelf they had on the wall had actually _fallen off. _Ig and Gazzy were running around, trying to conceal suspicious pieces of wiring before Mom saw it.

I helped them stuff everything on the ground into a box as quickly as I could. Right then, Nudge came in.

"YOU TOOK MY NAIL POLISH!" she shrieked.

"It was flammable," Gazzy argued, busy trying to lift the shelf while Iggy ran around looking for the fallen screws.

"Nudge, I'll buy you more tomorrow and they'll get in trouble, but now is not the moment…"

"WHO TOOK MY LAPTOP?" Fang ran in.

"It was on your bed before," I said, putting in the screws while the two boys held up the shelf.

"Nudge," I sighed. Her eyes widened.

"I just wanted to watch Pretty Little Liars!" she argued. "It's in my room, Fang."

Nudge left and I asked Gazzy for scissors. He handed me a pair of little kid ones.

"I need the dangerous kind," I said to Gazzy. "Or a screwdriver." The kid handed me a shiny screwdriver that looked like it had murdered many missing household appliances.

In Iggy and Gazzy's room, you're more likely to find a screwdriver than scissors. Fact of life.

I screwed the shelf back on. "Hide the box," I told them. They nodded, accepting the useful advice. I went back to my room, and saw the explosion of boxes and things.

"FANG!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Like magic, he appeared.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around, panicked.

"Help me clean," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I'm your girlfriend," I said, getting closer. "Because I'm amazing." Closer. "Because you love me _this much_," I told him, spreading out my arms. He actually smiled and agreed, planting a quick kiss on my lips.

"Okay, let's do this thing!" I said. We both shoved the papers back in, put the boxes back, and shut the door before anything else could fall.

"I'm gonna go get _approved _downstairs," he said.

"I'll do that after I help the girls," I answered. Fang left the room quietly, the same way he does everything else.

I picked the Fang puppet up and walked over to his room. The Max puppet was on his bed too. I put the Fang puppet right next to it, putting its floppy hand on the Max puppet's hand.

I left his room and went to check on the girls' room. Angel was putting a stuffed animal in place at the end of a neat row and Nudge was hanging jewelry on hooks that were all around her big mirror. She had one of those movie star mirrors with light bulbs all around it, and I swear she spent an unhealthy amount of time in front of it.

I left quickly, seeing that they didn't need any help. I passed Mom on the way to my room.

"I saw your room. You passed," she told me, obviously in a hurry. I still had ten minutes before lunch, judging by Iggy's absence and the smell of cooking quesadillas.

I opened my door and my gaze fell onto my bed. There was the Fang puppet again. This time, it was holding a tiny paper heart. I remembered it was from that time when Nudge had thrown confetti all over the house—not a good day.

But this was beyond sweet. Before I could go see Fang, I heard Iggy call that lunch was ready. A smile on my face, I flew (yes, flew, I felt like it, don't judge me) downstairs. The whole flock, plus Ella, was waiting at the table. Hey, we'd done something as a family and survived. Now to spend the rest of the afternoon doing nothing with Fang…

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**A/N: Review! Do it! Make me update faster!**


	15. A Bet and a Carnival

"BACON!" Iggy screamed, swinging off of a vine like Tarzan. I ducked and he flew above me, cackling maniacally.

Gazzy appeared, stirring a cauldron of what looked like a magic potion. Total popped out of it. "THE CSM HAS FALLEN!"

He did a somersault and dived back in. Looking back at Gazzy, he now had Nudge's face. "Hey Max," he/she said, his/her voice echoing, "buy me clothes…"

Gazzy/Nudge dissolved and the cauldron stayed, getting bigger and bigger. My face dipped forward into it and I saw swirls of ink everywhere. I caught wisps of memories: Jeb at the E house, Angel and Total, Iggy and Gazzy after the makeover in New York…

The world righted itself and I saw Fang. He was oddly dressed: he was wearing a golden net. _Only_ a golden net. I was about to faint when he opened his hand to reveal a small cube.

"Want a sugar cube?" he asked, his voice low and seductive. The sugar cube morphed into a miniature Total. Total grew until he went back to his normal size. Fang threw a trident at him and he dissolved in a shower of sparkles.

"Good morning," a voice said. I opened an eye and saw Fang—fully clothed, not a golden net in sight. It was all a dream. Of course—a scantily clad Fang is too good to be true.

"Mrghhh," I answered, tossing my head to escape Fang.

"Come on, no one else is awake yet," he whispered.

"So?" I managed. Fang sighed.

"Either we do this the easy way, or the hard way," Fang said.

"Easy?" I mumbled, not thinking straight.

"Well, then that would be 'Get up, please, darling,'" he said.

"No."

"Hard way, then," he said. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I thought he was hugging me. I didn't resist. Suddenly, he lifted me up and dragged me to the ground.

"OW!" I shouted. I tried struggling, but he had me pinned to the floor.

"Not so invincible now, are you?" he taunted. I stopped struggling.

"That wasn't a fair fight. I was _asleep_."

"You think you could pin me awake?" he said.

"Definitely," I answered.

"Winner gets to _make_ the loser do one thing. Deal?" He extended his hand. I shook it weakly, still trying to wake up. Fang got up, easing the pressure on me.

"After breakfast," I said, shooting him my most intimidating look.

"Oh, and Max?"

"What?"

"Your 'scary look' isn't working."

! #$%^&*

Luckily, Mom was asleep. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been too happy about us fighting for—what was it already? I forget. There was a bet riding on this, so it had to be done. I was pretty confident I'd be able to pin Fang. I'd always won at wrestling back in the E house with Jeb.

On one side, there was Iggy, Ella, and Gazzy cheering for Fang. Ella had told me she was actually cheering for me, but she just wanted to sit with Iggy. On the other side were Angel and Nudge cheering: "Max! Max! Max!"

Oh, I forgot one thing: they were in trees. Ella had climbed up, and the rest had flown. I was facing Fang, both of us in a crudely drawn circle in the lawn. Iggy had the whistle.

"On three! One! Two! Three!" He blew the whistle. I started walking a little, moving in the ring. You weren't allowed to purposefully leave the ring, and you had to be pinned for ten seconds inside of it. My favorite part: everything's allowed.

I waited for Fang to make the first move. I never initiate the fight. He punched experimentally to my left, and I dodged. I ducked another punch just as he was about to trip me. I snapped out my wings and flew up.

Fang joined me in the air, trying to sneak up on me from behind, when I caught him in the jaw with a roundhouse kick. He stumbled and lost some altitude. I socked him again in the jaw and he fell even more.

The girls were going wild: "MAX! MAX! MAX!"

"Get back up!" Iggy shouted. I pushed him to the ground and pinned him. He wasn't even resisting. I held him down on his back, smiling into his face. His eyes were closed.

"FIVE! SIX!" Iggy counted. Was Fang okay? I worried, looking at his face. Without warning, he shot up and pushed me onto my back.

"FANG! FANG!" Gazzy shouted. Fang pushed down on my shoulder harder, while I struggled. I kicked and thrashed, but he was too strong.

"FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN!" Iggy screamed, the excitement mounting. The cries of "MAX!" or "FANG!" distracted me even more.

In a last burst of effort, I bucked Fang off of me. I pushed him down, but I was tired from getting free from Fang's grip. He pushed me off easily and kicked me in the gut.

I sucked in my breath while Fang pushed me down. I was trying to breathe, but his heavy weight was crushing me. I gasped, trying for a gulp of air.

"THREE! FOUR! FIVE!" I coughed again, hoping he'd notice. Fang shifted a little, his weight now on my shoulders instead of my chest. I took a deep breath, trying to control the shaking.

"SEVEN! EIGHT!" I tried pushing him off of me, but he just fell back on. "NINE! TEN!"

The pressure eased and Fang let go, still not moving from on top of me.

"Move," I groaned. Fang shook his head and crashed his lips against mine. I stayed pressed there, moving my lips sloppily, hoping maybe he'd forget about the bet. When we both ran out of breath, he pulled away. _Fingers crossed,_ I thought.

"You still owe me for the bet," he said, getting up. Crap. He left me there, still lying down on the grass.

! #$%^&*

"Hi, Mom," Ella and I said together, leading the flock into the kitchen as normally as possible.

"Up early?" she asked.

"We went out for a fly," I lied.

"Ella too?"

"I, um, watched," Ella said nervously. Mom nodded, obviously not convinced but nice enough to refrain from asking.

"The CSM got you guys an invitation for a carnival out in Tucson," Mom said, changing the topic completely.

"Cool!" Gazzy said.

"Yay!" Angel added.

"Can I go to the gift shop?" Nudge asked.

"Sure. You each even get thirty dollars to spend," Mom chuckled. Nudge squealed, showing her approval. Iggy, Fang and I hadn't said anything yet. I finally said what all three of us were thinking: "Do we _have_ to go?"

"Yes, you do," she said. All three of us groaned. "Oh, and I think it's time for us to leave!" she said.

! #$%^&*

A big, sagging banner proclaimed that this was the "Tucson Carnival." It was a _carnival_ in _Tucson_. No freaking _duh._

Mom gave us each a ten and a twenty like she'd promised. She split us up into groups: Angel and Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy, and Fang and I. Everyone was happy with that arrangement, especially Fang. Oh, okay, I'll admit it: I was happy to finally get some alone time with him.

We passed by a pie-eating contest. It was going to start in five minutes. Fang looked at me pleadingly with his warm, dark, beautiful eyes.

"Let's do the pie-eating contest!" he said.

"No way," I said.

"You have to. We made a bet," he said. I looked over abnormally large, sweaty people eyeing ungodly piles of pie.

"Don't you want to use your one wish on something else?" I asked. He grinned at me.

"Hey, I did say _anything,_" he mused. I'm sorry, but I was _not_ giving him that power.

"Okay, fine," I grumbled. I paid five bucks and wrote my name in. Fang did the same and we sat together at the end of the table, as far away from the sweaty others as possible.

"The contest starts in thirty seconds, folks!" one of the judges announced. People cheered.

"I'm gonna win," Fang said.

"No way," I answered.

"GO!" the judge screamed.

! #$%^&*

"I want it."

"Please, Angel, can't we _buy_ you a stuffed animal?" Nudge pleaded. Angel turned to Nudge.

"It's not just _any_ stuffed animal. It's a huge, tie-dye unicorn!"

"I want to go shopping," Nudge insisted.

"Meet me here in five," Angel said, taking aim again. She handed another five-dollar bill to the man and adjusted the big rifle on her small shoulder. The plastic ducks started to move around. Pop! Pop! Angel took down two, vaguely aware of Nudge leaving.  
She needed to shoot down twenty in two minutes to win, and she only had enough for another round after this one. Pop! Pop! Pop! Angel grimaced. The last one had been a red duck. She'd lost two points.

She took aim again, taking out five more, one of them another red one. Angel heaved the heavy rifle over her shoulder again. It was too heavy—she was too young to be allowed to play, but she'd, well, _convinced_ the man to let her play anyway. She kept shooting some, once in a while hitting a red one.

"Time's up!" the man said, and he stopped the ducks. He counted them. "Fifteen," he announced.

"Darn," she said. _So close! _She handed the man her last bill. He took it skeptically. The ducks started up again, moving in circles. She heard the familiar popping sounds, as she took down six plastic ducks, one of them red.

She shot down more, the popping filling her ears rhythmically. Occasionally she'd wince, having hit a red one.

"Time's up!" the man announced. "Seventeen. Sorry." Angel's eyes filled with tears. She'd spent all of her money. She looked into the multicolored unicorn's shiny, beady eyes. It was at least three-quarters of her size!

"I've been playing a while, and I spent a lot of money…" Angel started.

"No can do, miss. You have to win to get the toy."

"I really want it!"

"Sorry," he said, turning away. Angel opened her eyes wide, her face one of concentration. He turned around slowly.

"Why… not?" he murmured. "You…can…have…it." He walked over to the unicorn slowly, took it down from its hook and handed it to Angel. She smiled and thanked him.

Nudge walked over to her, wearing heart-shaped studded glasses, huge hoop earrings, a big knit hat, a sparkly, thin scarf and a new, frilly skirt over her jeans.

"You got your unicorn!" she beamed.

"You got accessories," Angel said. They smiled together and went to get cotton candy—pink, of course. _This_ is why Nudge was Angel's best friend.

! #$%^&*

"Test your strength! Who's the strongest?" a man with overly white teeth shouted out. Iggy elbowed Gazzy.

"Hey! I want to do that!" he said. He dragged Gazzy over and asked the guy how much it was.

"Three bucks," the guy said. Iggy nodded and held out his bills to Gazzy. Feeling color wasn't much help there—all the bills were green.

Gazzy picked out three ones and handed them to the guy.

"What's wrong, can't count?" the man snickered. Iggy's face hardened.

"I'm blind," he said shortly. The man paled.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry," he stuttered. Iggy shot him a glare (a little too low, the man was taller than he thought) and took the huge hammer from him. He lifted it up high, and cocked his head.

"Left." Gazzy said shortly. "K." He'd just told him exactly where he had to hit the hammer. Iggy brought it down hard. This machine was made for regular humans. It was a wonder Iggy didn't break it.

The lights lit up until the top of the pole. The bell on top dinged and the man was beyond surprised.

"What do I win?" Iggy asked. Wordlessly, the man handed him twenty bucks. He'd just seen this scrawny kid hit harder than he ever could, and he was a strong guy.

"Twenty!" Gazzy gasped. He high-fived Iggy.

"Here, take it and go buy us popcorn. Oh, and cotton candy. Throw in a funnel cake while you're at it!" he yelled after Gazzy who'd already taken off. Iggy grinned and handed the man another three dollars, taking the hammer again.

! #$%^&*

"GO!"

I grabbed a plate of pies. They were still warm as I savagely ripped into them and stuffed a piece of one in my face. There were people counting behind us. I didn't chew, swallowing without thinking.

I tore through two pies, rushing into the third. When I saw Fang on his fourth, I tried swallowing what was left of my third. I choked and managed to force it down, the fourth one already in my mouth.

"GO! GO! GO! GO!" people chanted around us. Fang was on his fifth right when I started mine. I chomped a little, swallowing more easily. The regular humans around us were only on their second or thirds. We started our sixth pie together.

"TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN!" I chomped through the sixth pie. Fang was choking on his, and I finished mine. Feeling horribly heavy, I stuffed pieces of my seventh into my mouth.

"FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" the contest had ended, and Fang still had a little of his sixth left. I'd won.

"AND OUR WINNER HERE, THIS YOUNG LADY, MAX RIDE!" I smiled weakly as the main judge held up my arm.

"IN SECOND PLACE, FANG… UH, FANG!" He almost smiled as he got up for the crowd. Some other guy won third place, but whatever. As soon as we'd gotten our prize money, Fang grabbed my hand and we ran out of there before they could ask any questions.

As soon as we were away from them, Fang shoved me against a wall, creeping dangerously close.

"I win," I taunted.

"I won this morning," he pointed out.

"Even?"

"Even." I said, and with that he leaned over and kissed me gently.

"EW!" Gazzy screamed. I jumped back and saw the flock. _Hi, guys._

"What?" Iggy asked.

"They were sucking face," Gazzy whispered, horrified. Angel ran up to me, her whole upper body hidden behind this multicolored pile of unidentifiable fluff.

"Look at my unicorn!" she announced proudly. Looking more carefully, I saw what looked like an upside-down ice cream cone on its forehead. Yup, definitely a unicorn.

Nudge had earrings, sunglasses, a hat, a new skirt and a scarf. She beamed at me. Mom looked over at me, smiling slightly. I guess it was worth it—for the kids. Too bad I totally missed out on some quality Fang time. Why did Gazzy have to pop up _right_ then?

"Oh, calm down, you can make out at home," Angel huffed. I desperately hoped no one else had heard. Judging by the looks he was sending me, maybe Fang had.

* * *

**A/N: Whoever finds the 2 Harry Potter references, and the Hunger Games reference in the dream gets a surprise next chapter... Review and try to win!**

**Fly on!**

**~greysky3**


	16. Cooking!

**A/N: Sorry for not updating! I've had terrible writer's block. This chapter is, well, short and sweet. Literally. Read on!**

* * *

I stepped barely an inch closer to watch Iggy pour the flour in and he'd _heard. _He's some kind of divinity, I swear. "MAX! Stay back," he admonished.

"I want to cook!" I said. Iggy shook his head, cracking an egg above a bowl. As he cracked two more, he continued to talk to me.

"Unless we want nuclear fallout, you're not getting anywhere my cooking," he answered. I frowned but it was wasted on him.

"Please?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, chopping a banana quickly and skillfully. I turned to the only other person in the vicinity, Fang.

"Fang?" I tried. Nudge had taught me the Bambi eyes, and they worked devastatingly well on a certain, dark, silent, and possibly emo bird kid. He sighed.

"Iggy? Remember that _thing_?" Fang called out. Iggy stiffened, stopping the knife through his second banana.

"You wouldn't," Iggy countered, but I could hear his voice filling with doubt.

"Max is right here. And Dr. M is somewhere around," Fang continued.

"Fine, just let me finish the banana bread," Iggy said angrily, glaring at the third banana he was viciously chopping. I did not even want to _know_.

He mixed the murdered banana in with the rest of the batter and added, well, stuff. You know, powdery stuff and liquid-y stuff. I know; I am _such_ a poet.

He poured the batter into a cake pan quickly and opened the oven. Heat blasted out, making me flinch, but Iggy didn't even notice. He stuffed the pan in and closed the door.

"I'm making tiramisu for dessert tonight," Iggy muttered. He doesn't like being blackmailed. But then again, who does?

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Hopefully, something that doesn't involve blowing up the kitchen," he answered, with his usual touch of joy and helpfulness. Not.

"I thought you _liked_ explosions," I told him.

"Not in _my_ kitchen."

"I think you meant my mom's kitchen."

"Same thing," he waved me away.

"So what do I do?" I asked him. He handed me a bowl with sugar and a smaller bowl filled with yellow stuff I assumed was egg yolk.

"Whisk these," he explained, checking on the banana bread. He handed me this huge electric mixer. He walked off, taking out things from cupboards. I looked at the mixer. It had this big button on it. I pressed it and it whirred. I let go, dipping the wiring into the sugar.

I pressed the button and sugar went flying everywhere. I let go of the button with a small squeak. Fang, leaning on the doorway, was trying not to laugh. I glared at him.

"What was that?" Iggy asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," I said a little too quickly. Sugar was all over the counter and the floor.

"I can smell guilt," Iggy warned, coming over. He touched the counter. "You're supposed to put the eggs in before you whisk!"

"Sorry," I said. Iggy sighed deeply. He poured the egg yolks into the bowl, and added fresh sugar. He held my arms firmly while he pressed the button with my thumb, his finger on mine.

He finally let go. The mixture had turned oozy, and pale. In short, it was anything but appetizing.

"This is how you make tiramisu?" I asked. "It was a lot less gross in my mind." Iggy rolled his unfocused eyes, taking the mixture from me. He handed me a package of ladyfingers and a see-through, square glass pan.

"You put the cookies in the cake pan. Not too hard?" Iggy mocked. I growled and he went away laughing, adding some chunky white thing I took to be cheese to the sugar mixture.

I placed the cookies carefully, filling the whole bottom of the pan. Iggy came over to me, pouring some coffee into the mix while watching me. I had covered the whole bottom. "Is the bottom covered?" Iggy called out to Fang.

Fang came over and said yes. Iggy poured the mix onto the ladyfingers. It oozed on top of it and Iggy took the cake pan away, whisking it away to the fridge.

"You actually cooked!" Fang exclaimed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I answered, though I was smiling.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm," Fang said with a smirk.

"Hey, lovebirds! You have to clean the sugar that's all over the kitchen," Iggy called, effectively ruining our moment. I sighed and went to get the vacuum cleaner.

! #$%^&*

I watched impatiently behind Iggy's shoulder as he took the tiramisu out. We'd already had dinner, and the flock was asking for dessert. Iggy set the tiramisu down on the counter. "It's ready," he grinned.

I smiled at him. "Make sure to tell everyone that I helped make it," I told Iggy.

"I wouldn't do that. No one will eat it if they find out you cooked," he answered.

"_Iggy_," I reprimanded.

"Okay! Fine! Let's tell them!" Iggy threw up his hands in the air in defeat. He picked up the tiramisu and brought it to the table, with me following closely after.

He set it down on the table and all eyes shot to us. "Max made this dessert," Iggy announced.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Angel coughed.

"What, is it poisoned?" Gazzy asked.

"We can just have ice cream!" Nudge said quickly. Iggy shot me a quick glance.

"Kidding!" he improvised. There was a loud collective sigh of relief. He left the flock to each take a portion. He walked up to me and told me the most infuriating thing anyone could say.

"I told you so."

* * *

**A/N: Just to make things clear, not at all implying Miggy here. I was just focusing on their sibling-y relationship.**

**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**Fly on!**

**~greysky**


	17. April Fool's Flock-style

**A/N: Writer's block. I am so, so sorry.**

**I've been writing a piece of fiction, so it hasn't been posted on here. It's in the works, and I hope it'll become novel-length.**

**I haven't given up on Snippets though! Thanks for sticking with me and getting me to 35 review!**

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MAX

I opened one tired eye and I knew. Today was the day. I clicked my phone on just to check, and the date confirmed everything. It was April First.

I stepped out of bed, opened the curtains, avoiding the fake dog turd on the edge of my bed and the fake vomit on the floor. It was pretty realistic. The kids had really outdone themselves.

I dragged a chair over to the door and carefully took down the bucket of water. I set it down on the floor gingerly, ripping off the small taser on the door handle before opening it. I went into the bathroom and picked up my toothpaste. I squeezed it out experimentally and saw the mayo drip out. I threw it in the trash and took out another tube from the cabinet.

Without thinking, I took the cup that held our toothbrushes and took it downstairs to the kitchen. I put it in the microwave for a minute and poured out the now-melted water.

I ran back upstairs, avoiding the other "dog turd" on the steps and checked the toothpaste thoroughly before brushing my teeth. I sighed, tired of the whole deal. I've been through many April Fools with the flock. You learn to anticipate the pranks and disable them before they happen.

Fang joined me in the bathroom. He was about to grab my hand when I squeezed my fingers on his wrist, trapping it. I flipped it over and checked it, then did the same with his other hands. There weren't any tasers. Fang raised a quizzical eyebrow at me.

"April Fools. I'm sort of paranoid," I explained. He nodded and hugged me quickly before I left the bathroom. I opened my dresser and took out a shirt from the bottom of the drawer, and shook it out to make sure there was no itching powder in it.

After a careful inspection of my Green Day shirt (actually _Fang's_ Green Day shirt I had… borrowed), I slipped it on. It hung loosely on me, being too big for obvious reasons. I shoved on some random cargo shorts that may or may not have been mine in the first place. Other than Nudge, we're not really possessive of our clothing.

On my way out of my room, I met Fang. "Isn't that shirt mine?" he asked.

"Not anymore," I said.

"I like it," Fang said.

"So much you want it back?" I asked him. Fang shook his head.

"I like that you're wearing my shirt," he explained. I must have put on a confused expression, because he continued. "It's my mark. To show you're mine."

I smacked him lightly on the arm. "I'm not property!" I said, but I was laughing, so that must have ruined the whole effect.

"Should we prank them back?" Fang asked; his voice lowered to a whisper. I bet my eyes glinted mischievously.

"Yeah," I said, grinning. April Fool's Day was just _beginning. _

! #$%^&*

"There's no more electricity in my roooooom!" Nudge wailed, dragging out the last word. I looked up from the TV. Well, TV my ass. I was cuddling with Fang with some kind of stupid show playing in the background.

"I'm sure we'll get it fixed," I soothed. I should really be an actress, because Nudge didn't suspect a thing. She frowned at me, but it didn't cross her mind that I could possibly be at the bottom of that.

"But my phone is dead! And I can't charge it!" Nudge whined.

"You'll just have to charge it in the kitchen," I said.

"There's nowhere to lie down in the kitchen!" Nudge insisted. I shrugged and she left the room with her shoulders hunched down in defeat. Fang looked at me with a glance that said it all.

"Did you know there was this switch in the basement that controls electricity in individual rooms around the house?" I asked Fang conversationally.

"They're going to kill you for that," he told me. I turned away from him and snuggled into his chest.

"Only if they find out it's me…" I trailed off. Fang put his lips on my head and we stayed like that for a while, neither of us breaking the silence.

"Max and Fang, sitting in a tree!" Gazzy sang from right behind us. I swiveled around and he wasn't there. He was probably throwing his voice again.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he chanted, this time from the entrance to the living room. I still couldn't find him.

"First comes love," he crooned, his voice now coming from the left. "Then comes marriage." His voice had jumped to the right of the room. I whipped my head around frantically, trying to find the Gasman.

"Then comes a mutant bird baby in a baby carriage!" Gazzy finished, strolling through the front door.

"Very funny," I muttered.

The Gasser grinned widely. "I was only the distraction." Nudge and Angel suddenly appeared, wielding two cartons of eggs each. Angel smiled at me sweetly before throwing an egg at my face.

I swiped it off, turning around to find Fang with an egg on his shirt. I ran for it, trying to exit the living room. It was probably the worst moment for Iggy to pop up.

"What's—ACK!" he shouted, swiping at the egg on his face. I shoved past him roughly, Nudge laughing evilly as two more eggs landed on my _favorite_ sweatshirt. Iggy ran out with us, Fang growling but unable to defend us, another raw egg cracking on his smooth, silky, beautiful, dark hair that was _so_ touchable…

Ahem. We scrambled up the stairs, locking ourselves into Fang's room. I tried wiping the egg off my hair with my sleeve. I huffed in frustration. "It's all over my favorite sweatshirt!" I said.

"Don't worry, you're still beautiful," Fang said, earning a small smile and a half-hearted punch on the arm from me.

"I'm still here," Iggy muttered. He is _so_ dramatic sometimes.

"We have to prank them back," Fang said.

"Starting with Nudge," I agreed. "I have an idea."

"Nudge keeps her keys on a hook inside her window," Iggy said. "If that helps at all."

"It does," I said, a positively evil smile starting to appear on my face.

! #$%^&*

"The power's back on, sweetie," I told Nudge. She lit up, hopping down from the kitchen counter where she'd been lying on her back with a few pillows. She gave me a huge smile, and I almost felt bad, then I looked down at my sweatshirt. Like magic, I was furious again.

She ran upstairs. There was an earsplitting scream a few seconds later, and Iggy, Fang and I tried not to laugh. All three of us conveniently popped up near her room.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked, sounding so concerned I almost snorted and blew our cover.

"MY ROOM!" Nudge screamed, incapable of formulating a complete thought. Nudge not being able to talk means a code red apocalypse. We all ran in, worried expressions plastered on our faces. Her room was empty, no furniture, no mirrors, no beds, and no posters.

"ANGEL!" she shouted, and the same little blond mind reader appeared. We all blocked our minds and enjoyed how her eyes widened exponentially.

"My bed! Total's bed! My stuffed animals!" Angel's eyes were filling with tears.

"It might me a robbery," Fang said with a straight face.

"You should check to see if they stole your keys, because if they did they could get into the house," I added.

Nudge nodded and moved her curtains to check for her keys. She let out a gasp and we all convincingly pressed closer to see. Out in the yard, through the window, you could see the contents their room, laid out in exactly the same way as it had been before. The posters were spread out where they had been on the walls, and the beds were arranged, Nudge's light bulb mirror was set carefully on the grass.

"FANG!" Angel yelled. I glared at him.

"Why didn't you block your mind?" I turned viciously on him.

"I did!" he protested.

"Lucky guess," Angel smiled at us.

"What?" Iggy said.

"Now go clean up!" Nudge told us. "Or we tell Dr. M." I frowned at her.

"Fine," I grumbled.

! #$%^&*

DR. MARTINEZ

My phone rang on the way home from work. I was tired, and I'd had to operate on a dog all day. I ignored every safety rule and picked up when I saw Max's caller ID. Was there an attack? Was Jeb back?

It went straight to voicemail though I picked up. Strange. I put the phone down, put it on speaker, and pressed play as I drove.

"Hi, Mom. It's Max. This is hard to say but… well, I'm pregnant. Fang is the father. I'm running away now. Don't look for me. I don't want to be found. It's a girl, and I'm naming her after you. We're going to get married. Try and forget me. I love you, Mom."

Max's voice fell silent, and I ignored the tears blurring my eyes as I drove well above the speed limit to get home.

! #$%^&*

MAX

"Lift it a little bit," I told Fang. His end of the dresser went up a little bit, and Iggy held the middle bravely.

I took a step back and we shuffled towards the house. Total was sniffing around excitedly.

"How come this is the second time you move the furniture? First, you bring it out; then you take it back in. Talk about indecisive," he said, half-laughing and half-barking.

I glared at him and he ran under us, making me lose my balance. The back door opened and I heard my mom's voice.

"MAX!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She compressed me in a hug. "I was so scared," she whispered.

"What?"

"You can tell me, it's okay. I'd never be ashamed of you, and I'd support all three of you. Just don't push me away!" I exchanged a look with Fang. My _mother_ had gone crazy.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, patting her head awkwardly.

"How many months?" she asked me with tears in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"How long have you been pregnant?" she asked again. My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"WHAT?" I exploded. "I'm not pregnant!"

"But I got a call…" Her expression suddenly turned from tearful to murderous. She stomped into the house screaming: "GASMAN!"

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Fang asked. I rolled my eyes.

"No. You would know."

"Right. Unless you were cheating on me."

"Yeah. I'm totally going to elope with Total," I deadpanned.

"Hey! I'm a married canine!" Total protested.

"I'm still here!" Iggy all but shouted.

"Right. Now help me carry this dresser to the girls' room."

! #$%^&*

Dinnertime came around. I guess I survived April Fools another year. At the dinner table, we were eating Iggy's signature macaroni and cheese. It's the food of the gods.

I punched him lightly on the arm. "You didn't prank anyone!"

Iggy smiled lightly and dug into his food. I started chewing and almost spat it out. Retching, I swallowed with difficulty. "Did the sea throw up in my macaroni? It's way too salty."

"Mine tastes like it has honey! It's too sweet!" Nudge exclaimed. Grumbling and protest echoed around the dinner table.

Iggy smiled all by himself. "Just right," he said, taking a huge bite of macaroni.

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**A/N: Shout out to Goldilocks. REVIEW! PLEASE?**


	18. This means war!

**A/N: I am beautifully procrastinating. I have to finish Emma by the end of the week...**

**Of course, writing is much more fun ^^**

**Review to make me happy! Please?**

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FANG

I yawned, coming back from the bathroom, my teeth fresh and brushed. I opened my closet, and found it was empty. My mouth opened in shock. Actually, it wasn't really empty. There was a pink shirt and pink shorts in the back of the closet.

On them was a note. I picked it up, my mind already racing, exploring the possibilities, the pros and cons. I opened the folded piece of lined paper. In it was written, "Where Iggy works his magic."

What? Then I remembered a game Jeb had made up for the little kids back at the E house. He'd called it "treasure hunt." You had to find clues that led you to a prize. In this case, the prize would be some presentable clothing. I would never be caught dead wearing that pink stuff.

I thought about the clue. Iggy works his magic either Exploding (according to him, it's whole science that deserves a capital letter) or cooking. He doesn't really have a specific place for destroying the things we care most about, so the kitchen was my best bet.

I ran downstairs. No one was in sight. I decided to find my clothes first, and question the flock later. They would suffer "The Silent Rage of Fang". I entered the kitchen, silence all around me. I noticed a folded note behind the blender. I picked it up quickly and unfolded it.

Inside was written, "Where Dr. M spent last afternoon." I racked my brain for anything that might tell me what Dr. Martinez had done last afternoon. I honestly couldn't remember. Thinking harder, I remembered she hadn't been in the house.

She'd been outside, planting flowers! Before I could revel in my victory, I ran outside towards the freshly planted flowerbeds. I picked out a flash of white among red roses. Ignoring the scratching of their thorns, I reached in and took out another note.

"Where your true love sleeps," was written. My love? _Is this a trick question? _In my heart? That couldn't be the next location. I thought again. "True love" must mean Max, I realized. Max must have my regular, _black_ clothes in her room!

Without time for any more thought, or maybe scared she was burning them or performing a voodoo ritual, I ran upstairs. You never know with Max.

MAX

I was woken up horribly by some other kind of crisis that morning, as you can imagine. It was _really_ starting to get old. I opened a bleary eye to see Fang standing over me.

His eyes were wild, and he was shaking me. "Where are my clothes?" he hissed.

"In your room?" I mumbled, trying to close my eyes again.

"No! Give them back!" he shouted, as I tried to turn away from whatever demon had possessed him.

"Let me sleep," I told him. He grabbed me, and flung me off the bed. I landed under him with a weak "Ow." I glared up at him now fully awake. He'd just made a huge mistake.

3RD PERSON

Would Fang kill Max for having his clothes, or would he spare her because he loooooooved her? Gazzy ran after Nudge and Angel. They'd find out soon enough.

There was screaming and thumping and the general sound of Max and Fang arguing, just their everyday lover's spat, peppered with occasional death threats from Max. It was nothing unusual, really.

Angel opened the door a crack and the Gasman craned his neck to see over Nudge's tall, skinny shoulder. Would Fang be beating her up? Would Max be mad? Gazzy's eyes glinted in delight at the idea of pranking the two lovebirds.

When he could finally see, it wasn't at all what he'd expected. Max was straddling Fang, her fist raised above him, shouting: "Apologize! Apologize!"

"You just like to be on top," Fang said, out of breath from underneath her.

"What does that mean?" Gazzy whispered.

"I'll go into her mind," Angel told him. "Oh. Oh," Angel said.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Gazzy knew that tone of voice, and he didn't insist. Max was still waving her fist threateningly. "I swear; if you don't apologize, I will gladly rearrange your face," she growled.

"Okay, okay. Just ease up on the lung-crushing part," Fang grumbled. Max lowered her hand and moved a little. Fang took that moment as his advantage and reached up and grabbed her, effectively flipping her over in one movement.

He had both her hands pinned to the floor. "Now _you_ apologize," he said.

"For what? I'm not the one who goes around throwing sleeping people off their beds," she argued.

"Apologize for threatening me."

"You have to say sorry first," she countered.

Nudge leaned in, wanting to see the result of their prank better, but she lost her balance. As she fell forward, she grabbed onto the door handle and pushed the door open.

The Gasser and his sister had been trying to lean in to see, so they all fell in a pile in Max's room. "What are you _doing_?" Max squealed, trying to get out from under Fang.

"What are _you_ doing?" Nudge asked calmly, gesturing towards Fang and Max. Max shifted under Fang, who still hadn't moved.

"Get off! They're here," she hissed.

"You still haven't apologized," he murmured.

"You will regret this all your (beep!)ing life if you don't move now, so the impressionable kids don't get the wrong idea," Max said, with as much venom as she could muster.

"We're not impressionable," Gazzy muttered, but no one heard.

Fang moved slowly, but finally getting off of Max. Angel glared at him.

"You should apologize to Max!" she told Fang.

"No, Max should apologize to Fang!" the Gasman countered.

"Nudge!" Angel protested. Nudge looked to Gazzy and Fang, then Max and Angel. She hesitated, weighing the devastating possibilities of both choices.

"Fang should apologize," Iggy said, popping out of nowhere.

"Where'd you come from?" Gazzy asked. Iggy shrugged.

"You guys weren't being exactly quiet about the whole thing. I heard _every single word_," he said, smirking at Fang and Max with his creepy "I-see-all-know-all-even-though-I'm-blind" stare.

"Well, then Max should apologize!" Nudge said. And so the war began, though no one knew it yet.

MAX

Rage boiled inside me. Fang was practically l_aughing_ at me. I glared at him, clenching my fists, and he was sending me a look that screamed, _that's adorable._ I was shooting daggers by then.

"Why don't you listen to Nudge?" he taunted, the corners of his eyes crinkling imperceptibly, so only I would know he was teasing me. And let me tell you, I didn't like that one bit.

I couldn't help it. I drew back my fist and it was about to connect with his jaw when he _caught_ it. He twisted my hand back and I fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. "Ow," I muttered.

I looked down at the leg I'd landed on. I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to bend that way. I glared at Fang, who'd gotten on the floor to see if I was all right.

"You okay?" he asked, his black eyes alight with worry.

"I'll be a lot better when I punch your sorry face," I threatened. I tried to sit up, but my leg was horribly painful. I fell back down with a pitiful whimper.

The flock crowded around me, scarred by the idea of their fearless leader being incapacitated. Okay, it was probably just for laughs at how helpless I was.

He picked me up and carried me to the couch downstairs, every jolt of a step a torture in itself. He called my mom, who was at work. I tried to make out their conversation, but it was mostly Fang telling her not to worry.

When he finally hung up, he walked over to me apologetically. "She made me promise to keep you on bed rest for the day," he told me.

"Really?" I groaned. "A small broken leg won't stop Maximum Ride from doing anything!" I tried getting up from the couch, and almost fell on the ground in a messy heap. Fang caught me just in time and picked me up again, this time taking me over to the stairs.

"Sure. Except things that involve walking," he said softly, the ghost of a smile illuminating his face.

"You better be my personal servant for the day," I warned, shifting and getting a better grip on Fang's neck.

He chuckled lightly and I took that to be a yes. Or else. "This isn't over," I whispered under my breath.

_To be continued…._

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**A/N: Cue Victorian-era British accent.**

***My fair ladies and gentlemen, pray do review. I would be undoubtedly in your debt, and shall repay you as graciously as is in my power, by shewing my affection through chusing to update sooner. May you have a delightful day!* **

**I'm out!**

**~greysky3**


	19. Break a leg!

**A/N: Hey everyone!**

**No, I wasn't dead! I fell a little behind, but now more chapters and on the way! *Not really, but bear with me here.***

**I finished Emma, so now writing is my top priority. Gotta keep grinding out those fics!**

**Okay, I'll stop ranting.**

**Enjoy!**

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"And be sure you don't get out of bed, okay honey? I know you don't like casts, but it's for the best."

"Sure, Mom."

"See you this afternoon, I have a pregnant Bernese about to deliver, but other than that I think my afternoon is clear."

"Whoa, TMI. See you then."

"Bye, Max."

I gave the phone to Fang. "Great. I have to stay on my bed all day," I sighed. Fang (surprise) said nothing, and put the phone down on the night table where I could reach it. I stirred my leg with its heavy cast.

"I hate this damn heavy cast," I muttered.

"Don't tell Iggy that, he was so proud he got to set it," Fang said.

I sighed falling back into my pillow heavily. I opened an eye and saw Angel peeking out from the doorway. She hopped into my room and climbed onto the bed.

"I'm gonna tell you a story so you don't get bored!" she chirped. I blocked my mind and smiled, so she wouldn't see how much I really didn't want to hear her story. She put a thick storybook onto her lap. She opened the first page, and Fang edged out silently. I envied his ability to escape.

"Long ago, in a faraway kingdom, there lived a girl named Cinderella. Cinderella was kind, smart, and beautiful," Angel began.

FANG

I edged away quietly, leaving behind the adorable scene of Max who was trying hard not to scream in pain as Angel sat on her injured leg, and Angel happily oblivious, telling her a fairytale she sure as hell didn't want to hear.

I had to find my clothes. I was wearing some old ratty makeshift pajamas, and I needed to get dressed, pronto. It just wasn't _fair._ Nudge loses a mascara wand out of the fifty she owns, and she throws a tantrum and sends the flock to an emergency archeology expedition. Fang loses all his clothes? Meh, Max's injury is more important.

_Actually, maybe my one true love's broken leg does count for something. _I ran downstairs, looking for the stray flock member to interrogate. I saw a fascinating display: the wild Nudge in its natural habitat, checking something on her phone.

"Where. Are. My. Clothes," I said, murdering grammar, but who really cares? Nudge's eyes widened.

"ZOMG, Fang, you scared me," she answered, not tearing her eyes from the tiny screen.

"What have you done with them?" I demanded.

"They're back in your room," she sighed.

"No voodoo rituals?" I said. Nudge gave me a weird look.

"No voodoo rituals." With a last warning glance, I ran back upstairs. I walked a little more calmly into my room, opening the door like a sane person. Then I threw myself onto the closet door and opened it.

Was it magically full of my awesome, black clothes? No, that would have been too simple. There was a note in lined paper again. I picked it up and unfolded it, tired of this crappy game.

_It's not that easy,_ the note read. _You have to win the game to get your clothes. _I almost threw a temper tantrum like a toddler, but I'm Fang, and I'm dark and silent and powerful, yada yada.

Where did the game even leave off? It told me that the clothes were in Max's room. I prepared myself for whatever Max's temper would throw my way, and headed to her room.

MAX

"And so Cinderella married the prince, and they lived happily ever after. The end," Angel finished. It took all my willpower not to scream _Thank God! _

The doorknob turned and Fang appeared at the doorway. I almost sighed in relief and unblocked my mind. Angel smiled at me and I smiled back. She jumped off the bed, satisfied, and left Fang and I alone.

He opened my closet. "OH MY GOD!" he almost screamed.

"We have another Nudge," I muttered. He ignored me and started pulling out black clothes.

"These are mine!" he told me. "Why didn't you tell me they were here?"

"I had no idea," I said.

"Was it Nudge? Or maybe Gazzy?" Fang thought aloud, stacking on his arm black pants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, jackets, socks, and whatnot.

"Can you throw me a hoodie?" I asked him. Not looking up, he hurled something at me. The hoodie landed on my bed, and I pulled it on. Behind his stack of clothes, Fang turned and looked at me.

"Now we can both be emo together," I joked, pointing at my black hoodie. He rolled his eyes and started towards the door. "Can you get Iggy?" I called out as an afterthought.

"Sure," he yelled back. Sure enough, five minutes later a certain tall, blind mutant was in my room.

"You called for room service?" he asked politely.

"Yeah. Bring me whatever food you've got," I said with feeling.

"That'll be three dollars," he said seriously.

"Really?"

"Really." Grumbling, I fished a few bills from my pocket and handed them to Iggy. He grinned widely. "What would you like?"

! #$%^&*

Iggy heard the squeak of sneakers and recognized the regular breathing of the Gasman. "Gasser?" he half-whispered.

"What?" he asked, walking over to Iggy.

"I just finished bringing Max her bagels, and now I'm bored."

"Bored? Like, prank bored?" Gazzy asked, his eyes glinting. Iggy nodded, an evil smile taking over his features.

! #$%^&*

"Oh. My. God. The boys are so dead," Nudge said to herself. They'd crossed out the eyes on all her One Direction posters and had used paint to paint on clown faces and rainbow hair. Smoke was practically coming out of her ears.

She ran downstairs, and they were sitting down on the couch, innocently watching or listening to TV. "GASMAN! IGGY!" she shouted.

They looked convincingly startled. "What?" Iggy asked, standing up.

"MY POSTERS!" she shrieked.

"What about them?" Gazzy asked, standing up too, behind Iggy. Nudge clenched her fists.

Iggy stuck out his tongue, and she shoved him so hard he smashed into the wall. "Ouch," Iggy muttered, not getting up. Before Nudge could either apologize or hit him now that he was down, Gazzy plowed into her.

She fell onto a small table and broke it, falling into the pieces of wood. Gazzy had fallen on her, and they were both too hurt to get up yet.

"Gazzy and Nudge, huh?" Ella asked.

"What?" the Gasman asked, not getting what Ella was implying. Nudge was blushing furiously.

"When did you get here?" Nudge asked, still underneath the injured Gasser.

"I don't have school," Ella said with a wide yawn.

"El! A little help over here?" Iggy called.

"Iggy?" she was suddenly concerned.

"Oh, so now you care about our injuries," Nudge muttered, pushing Gazzy off of her. She got up slowly and painfully. Ella came over to her.

"What hurts?" Ella asked.

"My arm," Nudge said, frowning. Ella felt it carefully.

"I think it's broken," Ella said.

"My ankle hurts too!" the Gasman wailed.

"It might also be broken," Ella said. "Iggy broke a rib. You push hard, Nudge." Nudge responded with a weak smile.

A crash echoed around the house. Ella rushed over, the bird kids with broken bones, not so much. Fang was lying at the bottom of the stairs brokenly.

"I think I broke a leg," he said, wincing.

! #$%^&*

"Okay Mom, I know this is going to sound crazy," Ella started.

"Life with the flock is by definition crazy. Fire away," Dr. Martinez answered.

"Everyone has broken bones," Ella said in one breath.

"What?"

"Not me, though. Fang broke his leg, Gazzy his ankle, Nudge her arm, Iggy a rib, and Angel tripped and fell when she heard all the pain in everyone's thoughts. I think she only sprained a ligament."

"Wow," Dr. Martinez breathed.

"Yeah, wow."

"Well, hold down the fort for me. I think I'll be back around four, the puppies were born, five of them, all healthy."

"That's great!" Ella exclaimed.

"I have to go. Good luck, sweetie!"

Ella put down the phone and sighed. This would be one long day.

! #$%^&*

"Ella! Can you read me a story?"

"Ella! I'm hungry!"

"Hey, El? You can come over if you want to, you know, hang out?"

"ELLA! Oh, hi. Can you paint my nails? I have this cool new nail polish I just bought the other day, and it has sparkles, and it's magnetic. Do you think it would be ugly if I had a French manicure, with, like, purple tips? 'Cause, you know, I love that color…"

"Oh, Ella! Go tell your boyfriend to pass me the Inferno XYZ. He'll know what I mean."

"Did you get any news from Mom?"

"EL-LA! Celeste fell and I can't reach!"

"Do you have any juice boxes?"

"ELLA! Oh, wait, I forgot what I was going to say."

"I'm bored! Ella!"

"Hey, you can hang out over here! Ella?"

"I remembered! No, sorry, not anymore."

"Ella?"

"Ella!"

"ELLA!"

"STOP!" Ella shrieked. The various complaints from different rooms suddenly stopped. "I'm going to spend my day in Iggy's room. Everyone else… just suck it up, okay?"

There was dead silence for a moment. Then someone said, "Yeah, yeah, go to your boyfriend."

Ella took a deep breath and walked calmly into Iggy's room, then slammed the door.

"Someone has a temper," Gazzy said.

"Tell me about it," Nudge answered.

"Fang? Are you still in your room?" Max called out.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Come to my room," she told him.

"Don't tell your mom," he said, and hopped out of his bed. He hobbled along in his cast and pushed the door open to his room. He was surprised to see Max wearing black, then he remembered she was wearing his clothes.

Max moved over to one side and Fang crawled in the other. "So," Max started. She looked over to Fang. He was doing his weird half-smile. "What?"

"Nothing."

Max leaned back into her pillow, sinking in. "I'm actually tired," she muttered.

"Me too," Fang lied just to get an excuse to hold her. She snuggled into him and Fang held on to the soft fabric of his own hoodie. Though he was nowhere near tired, Fang closed his eyes as he felt her drift off to sleep.

! #$%^&*

DR. MARTINEZ

"I'm home!" I called out. Angel walked down the stairs, her white wings spread out behind her.

"Hi, Dr. Martinez," she said sweetly. I smiled at her.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Max and Fang are sucking face," she said casually. "And so are Iggy and Ella."

My daughters were not exactly being a great example for the poor little six-year-old. I _had_ to have a talk with them.

"I'm not poor, or little. I've seen a lot," Angel said so gravely I almost laughed. She hesitated, and looked at me wistfully. "Will you read me a story?"

"Of course," I said. She smiled brightly and ran upstairs. I hadn't read a story aloud since Ella was little. I had to see how good I was.

Angel ran down, trailing a heavy book. I sat down on a couch, and she settled on my lap. She opened the book to the story she wanted, Snow White. I cleared my throat and began to read.

"Long, long ago, in the winter-time, when the snowflakes were falling like little white feathers from the sky, a beautiful Queen sat beside her window, which was framed in black ebony, and stitched."

* * *

**A/N: ****Review.**

**I'm out!**

**~greysky3**


	20. Eggy

"You should use another spatula," Iggy said matter-of-factly. Ella jumped, dropping an egg on the ground. It cracked and started too ooze around her feet. "And I thought _I_ was the blind one," Iggy remarked.

"You scared me," Ella said, going back to her omelet.

"That spatula is too soft. It'll break. Here, take this one," he said, feeling around the kitchen utensils. He picked a big, flat black one and plucked the small, chunky red one Ella was holding.

He put his hands over hers and helped her flip the omelet. Of course, he couldn't see her blush. He let go and Ella was almost sad. "Didn't you have a broken rib?" Ella asked.

"Still do," Iggy said. He picked up a small bottle and shook it. "What's this?"

"Vanilla extract," Ella read.

"Can you find oregano and _herbes de provençe_? While you're at it, some dried basil would be good, too."

Ella picked out small bottles with dried herbs. Iggy took them from her, and sprinkled a bit of each on her omelet. He lowered the fire, and with an expert flip of the spatula, the omelet was transferred smoothly to a plate.

"Mmm. Smells good," Ella said.

"Of course, I made it," Iggy smirked.

"I can cook too!" Ella protested.

"Sure you can," he said.

"Let me make you something! What do you want?"

Iggy thought for a moment. "A fried egg, sunny-side up." Ella turned up the fire on the stove and replaced the pan. She poured a little bit of oil in and let it simmer.

She cracked an egg expertly, and Iggy heard the satisfying sizzle. He was following along what she was doing by hearing. A minute later, it was ready.

"Here you go," Ella said, sliding the plate over to Iggy. She leaned forward on the counter to see how he would react. Iggy cut the egg and tried it.

"It's really good," he said, digging in to it. This time, it wasn't just an empty compliment. Iggy couldn't get enough of what Ella made.

He might have heard her crack the egg and fry it, but he had no way of knowing that she'd shaped it into a heart.

* * *

**A/N: That was en EGGY chapter! (Haha)**

**Well. Keep the reviews coming! Let's get to 50!**

**Shameless advertising: The reason I don't update as much is that I'm working on other stories.**

Lovebirds » reviews

Sequel to Stripes and Feathers. Chase and Ivy are fifteen now, and they went back to Baltimore. Far from five-star hotels, they live in a run-down home near a dumpster! How will these two lovebirds manage, and will they realize all they need is each other? FLUFF, not much plot.

Maximum Ride - Rated: T - English - Romance - Chapters: 5 - Words: 7,297 - Reviews: 6 - Updated: 4-21-13 - Published: 3-27-13

Prequel » reviews

Pre-canon, pre-Angel Experiment. A little subject meets someone who changes her life-Dr. Jeb Batchelder. Can he show her what life is like outside of the lab?

Maximum Ride - Rated: T - English - Drama/Family - Chapters: 2 - Words: 2,372 - Reviews: 1 - Updated: 4-21-13 - Published: 4-20-13 - Max & Fang

**Need more of your lovely greysky3?**

**Check out those!**

**Buh-bye!**


	21. Slumber Party

**A/N: 20th Chapter! Woot!**

**I know it says chapter 21, but one of the chapters in an A/N.**

**So I watched Dr. Who.**

**I saw the episode "The Big Bang" (Season Five) yesterday, and I had to wipe the mascara off my cheeks. Fun.**

**Then, I kept freaking out at night because I thought every sound I heard was the Silence, but I'd just forgotten them.**

**Sigh... Fangirl problems...**

**And I finally beat writer's block!**

**Can you guys be extra-nice with reviews for me? :3**

**And I finally have the prizes from Chap. 15, the HG and HP references. You guys get mentioned!**

**On with the story. (This one's extra-long, and honestly took forever).**

* * *

"Hey, Max?"

I looked up and saw Ella, Nudge and Angel standing outside of my door. Trouble.

"Yeah, what?" I asked my little sister.

"Well, we were wondering…"

"LET'S HAVE A SLUMBER PARTY!" Nudge cut in. Ella glared down at her.

"Only the girls!" Angel added.

"But I—" I tried to protest.

"Pleeeeeaaaaase?" they chorused.

"Fine," I snapped.

"And no sneaking off in the middle of the night to go see Fang!" Angel piped up.

"Ange, please stop looking into my mind. And if I want to go sneak out and see Fang, then I can."

"Why would you want to sneak out and see me?" the dark, silent (I _wish_, now he uses his talking to annoy me) bird kid in question appeared. Bad timing.

"Nothing. _We_," I gestured to the other girls, "were going to have a slumber party.

"Don't you already live together?" Fang asked. Stupid Fang and his stupid logic, and stupid, dark, swirling eyes—and I'm getting sidetracked again.

"Yeah, but this is different," Nudge insisted. "Like, we'll do our hair and gossip and watch chick flicks all night."

"Can't wait," I deadpanned. All three girls shot me The Look©.

"It starts at nine," Nudge said icily.

"Okay, I'm sorry, girls. I can help with the popcorn," I amended.

"Yay!" Angel cheered, and ran to hug me.

! #$%^&*

"It's nine!" Nudge announced gleefully.

"On the dot," I muttered. Nudge had been counting seconds since three minutes ago. I hoisted up my pillow and sleeping bag. "Is this sleeping bag really necessary?"

Nudge shot me a murderous look while graciously inviting me into her room. What can I say; she's a damn good multitasker. "_Yes,_ it is."

I let go of my stuff with a _flump_ sound as it fell on the ground. "So, what now?"

"We have fun," Angel growled.

"Aren't we off to a good start," I muttered.

"What was that?" asked Ella menacingly.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Let's watch a chick flick!" Angel squealed.

"That's sexist," I muttered, but no one heard. Nudge brought out a DVD. As soon as I saw it, I backed away in horror, but Ella was blocking the door.

"No… Anything but that!" I tried a second of pleading.

"Yes," Nudge said, feeding the DVD into the player and turning on the TV. "Twilight."

FANG

I was trying to have a guy night. I know, Fang, having fun? Whaaat? Right. Since the girls were having a slumber party, Iggy, Gazzy and I were trying to have a guy night, with pizza and football.

Dr. Martinez was having a "peace-and-quiet" night, but that's just not part of the flock vocabulary. So there I was, trying to explain what was happening on the screen to Iggy, who was shoving pizza into his mouth. Gazzy, meanwhile, was pelting me with chicken wings.

"FANG! Your phone just vibrated," whined the Gasser.

"TOUCHDOWN! YEAH!" the TV belted out.

"Who was that? Why is the guy screaming?" Iggy asked me anxiously.

"It's a text! I'm gonna read it!"

"WOAH MAN, DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT WAS EPIC!"

"_What?_ What happened?"

"Ooh, it's from _Max_."

I fell on Iggy trying to get over to Gazzy. He was holding the phone out to the side of the couch, where I couldn't reach.

"Dear Fang," he said in Max's voice. "I love you so much. Let's go make out right now. Will you propose to me? Let's get married and have little bird kids."

"Give the phone!" I roared.

"OW! MY FACE!"

"Sorry, Ig," I apologized, having finally grabbed my phone. I opened the text Max sent me as Iggy rubbed his nose. Drama queen.

I opened the text and (fortunately) it was nothing like what Gazzy said.

**FANG! Help me now! I hv to watch Twilight w Nudge, El, Ange. Doors locked. They're armed, have mascara. Come rescue me! Ig too for backup.**

"Iggy! We're going to Nudge's room, pronto!"

"What now?" he grumbled.

"Ella, Nudge and Angel are holding Max hostage and… making her watch Twilight."

Iggy sucked in a deep breath. "As torturous as Twilight will be for Max… I have to be with Ella on this one."

"What? That's only 'cause you have a crush on her!"

Iggy gave me a lopsided grin. "Of course. And don't tell me you're gonna save Max just because you feel bad for her."

"Touché. You keep Gazzy from imploding too many things." I ran upstairs towards Nudge's room.

Iggy called up, "I'm usually the one _helping_ him implode things!" but I was already gone.

MAX

"No more! Have mercy!" I wailed, pulling at my hair.

"Shh!" Angel snapped. I turned pleading eyes at her. _How can you enjoy this?_

_It's a great movie. Just watch it._

_Angel, I don't want to._

_You'll like it._

I snorted and muttered, "Yeah, right," probably giving off the "insane" vibe. The other girls were too absorbed in the movie to notice anyway.

"JACOB!" Ella squealed.

"You don't say," I said.

"MA-AX!" Nudge admonished. Her eyes were glued to the screen as Jacob took off his shirt for like the zillionth time in three minutes.

I groaned and only then did I act in a way considered insane by their standards. "Jacob, is, like, _so_ hot!" Nudge said, indignant.

The door burst open and there was Fang, holding lggy's lock-picking kit. "Not as hot as me, though," he said calmly, stepping into the room. Nudge shot Fang a sour look.

In one graceful movement, he'd gotten to the remote and paused the movie. I ran out after him and slammed the door behind me. "Come back!" Angel yelled.

"We'll get you!" Ella roared. I ran through the hallway with Fang, moving blindly forward. I yanked the door to Nudge's walk-in closet (such a spoiled bird girl) and threw myself in, pulling Fang along with me.

I heard the stampede of Twilight-rabid pre-teen girls run right past the closet. "Well…" I said.

Dark closet? Fang and I? Having to stay there for ten _whole_ minutes? Can you say "awkward"?

! #$%^&*

Nudge panted, running back to her room. "Wow," she said, out of breath.

"No kidding," Ella added.

"They're good at hiding. And they're blocking their minds," said Angel.

All three girls looked around. They'd checked everywhere. They weren't in the bathroom, in any of their rooms, in the basement, on the roof, or in the surrounding forest areas.

They were just about to give up when they heard the giggling. "What the—" Ella started. There was one deeper voice, unmistakably Fang's, and Max's. They turned wildly, trying to decide where it was coming from.

"Fang!"

"What?"

"Be quiet, they'll find us."

"Don't care."

"It's coming from my closet!" Nudge squealed. She yanked the door open and Fang and Max tumbled out. Max's face instantly went beet red.

"I-uh, um," she stammered.

"It's okay," Ella said.

"Don't worry," Angel added soothingly.

"We won't tell you scarred the impressionable little girl," Nudge said, jerking her thumb at Angel, whose eyes were widening innocently, "as long as both of you join the slumber party."

"Both? As in, me too?" Fang asked. Nudge nodded solemnly. "Fine."

MAX

"NO! I refuse to wear that… thing," I shouted, motioning over to the short, strapless dress. It was so glittery; it was practically unicorn poop.

"Hold still," Ella told me. She slowly brushed the mascara wand through my eyelashes as I wriggled. "You're gonna get panda eyes," she warned.

"Wha'?"

"It's when the mascara smudges around your eyes, it's really ugly," Nudge explained with an impatient wave of her hand. I shut my mouth angrily, glaring at the bathroom door: my only escape.

Angel was doing who knows what with my hair, apparently making some sort of complex braid. I watched as Ella brought the sponge applicator full of eye shadow to my eye. I blinked furiously as it grew monstrously huge in my left eye.

"Stop doing that!" Ella said, frustrated. I held still while she carefully put different colors of goop on my eyelids, effectively making my face a work of abstract art (with many creative color combinations).

Nudge showed me the strapless dress again. "Come on! It's _really_ pretty," she said, in a "tempting" tone.

"As if. No way," I said. Nudge sighed.

"Fine. But you'll leave the makeup on." I nodded and let Ella apply the last bit of liquid eyeliner, which was causing me to fight tears from the horrible burning sensation of eyeliner pouring into your eyes.

"Okay, you're ready," Nudge told me, as Angel let go of my hair. I looked in the mirror. My hair was in a complicated bun with braids and twists coming out of it in every direction. I tried not to flinch when I saw Ella had put on fake eyelashes as well as mascara. Great.

My lips were bright pink, and almost Day-Glo. I frowned and they barely moved. "What have you done?" I moaned.

Ella rolled her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic." She turned me over to the bathroom door, unlocked it, and marched me back into Nudge's room.

Fang was already there with his computer, typing away as usual. He looked up and his eyes went wide, even though he didn't say anything. "That bad?" I asked jokingly.

"Who are you and what have you done with Max?" said Fang. I rolled my eyes and gave him The Look©. He laughed and got up from the bed.

"Well, maybe the colors are… unique, and the hairstyle is… creative. But you're still beautiful as always." He pulled me closed and crashed his lips against mine. I put my arms around his neck, and to my surprise felt myself being pulled away.

"We can't waste any time!" It was Angel. Were they really bent on ruining my night?

"What now?" Fang said, angry.

"Now, we can share secrets!" Ella said.

! #$%^&*

"So there was this really cute guy, right? So he's all like, 'Hey girl, give me your number?' and I'm all like 'sure,'" Nudge rambled.

"What did you do?" Angel asked curiously. I almost wanted to have a funeral for her little-girl innocence.

"Well, I gave him a fake one," Nudge said.

"Why?" said Ella, genuinely surprised.

"I don't know," Nudge shrugged. "There was this even cuter guy like, five feet away."

I heard Fang groan next to me, and I thought I heard him whisper, "How superficial can you get?"

"I know, right?" I breathed back.

"Do I really have to sit through this?" Fang asked in a normal volume. Three death glares turned towards him instantly. "Just asking," he said, holding up his hands in a universal "Whoa-Nelly" sign.

"I would have taken his number," Ella mused.

"Don't tell Iggy that," Nudge said.

"Don't tell Iggy _what_?" Iggy asked, casually strolling in through the door.

"Did you hear all that? How did you get in? Forget that, do you even care?" Ella spouted out quickly.

"Yes, lock-picking skills, and yes," he answered. "Now, let's settle this nicely," he said, twirling a small, spindly tool in his hand. "You let Max and Fang go, and you lucky ladies get to spend the rest of your party thing with me."

"You know what, I would like to spend the rest of the night with you," Ella said, getting up swiftly and taking the lock-picking thing from Iggy. He stayed frozen as she walked towards the door.

"Iggy!" Fang scolded as I made one last desperate dive for the door, but Ella had already locked it again.

"Sorry," Iggy shrugged, sitting down and nearly missing Angel, who jumped out of the way at the last minute.

"Okay!" Angel said brightly, recovering from the Iggy-attack. "Let's do fun stuff!"

! #$%^&*

"Hello? Hell-o-o?" Gazzy called. The whole house was empty. He walked slowly up towards the second floor, where the bedrooms were. It was a lot like the scary movie Iggy had made him watch. It had given Gazzy nightmares, but he wasn't allowed to tell Max or Dr. Martinez. Iggy had blackmailed him, because he needed someone to describe the movie to him.

Gazzy shivered. All the rooms had been empty so far. There was a giggle. He paused. It was _exactly _like that scary movie! It was the ghost of the little girl, there to kill him! And worst of all, it was coming from Nudge and Angel's room! The ghost had already killed the girls!

Gazzy paused. The giggles and voices had started up again. "So, you know Maddie from my school, right? Well, so she was dating Neil, and then, when they broke up…"

He recognized Ella's voice. He could also make out Max, Fang, and Iggy grumbling, and Nudge and Angel squealing. Gazzy exhaled. They were just doing… who knows what, really, in the girls' room.

Gazzy ran downstairs. He was finally alone! He could do what he'd always wanted to do, but never was able to, with the flock watching and waiting to snitch on him. Gazzy opened the drawer behind the microwave, the one that no one touched. An evil grin began to spread across his face as he shook up the can of silly string.

! #$%^&*

"They are just so adorable," Ella said.

"I know," Nudge sighed. Iggy snickered.

"Pass me the purple?" Angel asked. "I want to draw a rainbow."

Nudge picked up the marker, not looking up from the unicorn she was drawing, She handed it to Angel, who scribbled on the last stripe in her rainbow.

"I'm going to make hearts!" Ella exclaimed.

"Can I draw too?" Iggy asked.

"Sure!" Nudge said, handing him a blue marker. She finished her unicorn and moved over to Fang's face. "Hm… Mustache or goatee? Mustache."

She started drawing a big, pink mustache on Fang.

"So much for light sleepers," Iggy said, starting the outline for a bomb on Max's forehead.

"Don't move their arms, though. They'll wake up," Ella advised. Fang's arms were delicately curled around Max, and her left arm was in turn around his neck.

"Okay," Angel said. She was adding sparkles around her rainbow.

"Mmm?" Max stirred a little.

"Quick! Get rid of the markers!" Nudge whispered anxiously. They all capped the markers and threw them under the bed. They took a few steps back, and Nudge resumed a random story.

! #$%^&*

"So, yeah. Katie, like, hates Stacey now, and Stacey even painted "ugly" on her locker, and called her a bra-stuffer. And I was like, 'girl, your bra is as stuffed as her blond hair is real. Go get that guy-stealer.' And then Katie was like 'Yo, paws off my guy,' to Stacey, who was walking around with Xander, and then Xander was like, 'I'm sorry babe, this whole time I was thinking about you,' and he went and kissed Katie and the end."

I groaned, trying to get untangled from Fang's arms. I must have been napping for at least fifteen minutes, and Nudge _just_ finished her story. I got up, pushing Fang off of me.

"You done yet?" Fang asked groggily. Nudge nodded, smiling widely. "Wait… Max, oh god."

I whirled around to Fang then saw his skin. "That can wait. Look at yourself!" I shrieked. Fang was covered in doodles.

"No, seriously, Max," he tried to say.

"They drew on you," we both said at the same time. I looked at my arms and found them covered in ponies, princesses, and rainbows.

We turned back on the others. I was about to murder them all, when the door burst open. "FREEDOM!"

I turned in time to see Gazzy, then colorful jets of silly string shooting at me. I had time to close my eyes and the silly string splattered all over me. Opening one eye, I saw we were all pink, blue, and green.

"How?" Iggy asked.

"You left your lock-picking kit right at the door. I only learned from the best," Gazzy explained.

"Thanks," Iggy said, forgetting for a second the silly string on his face. "That was an awesome prank, man!"

He walked forward and high-fived Gazzy. "Okay," Gazzy announced. "Everyone stop fighting, or I shoot."

"What do you want?" Nudge asked. Gazzy put on his "hurt-little-boy" face.

"Can I be in the slumber party too?" he asked. I was about to warn him, when Angel locked the door again.

"Sure, Gaz."

! #$%^&*

**Fang's Blog**

**You are visitor number: Stopped counting.**

**HI INTERNET!**

**I'm a little on sugar high here. WE HAD A SLUMBER PARTY! We talked, and watched movies, and drew on Max and Fang. Now everyone else is asleep, Max and Fang fell asleep cuddling, it's so cute, you should really see it.**

**Gazzy told scary stories with Iggy, and they finally all went to sleep.**

**Comment away! I had too much coffee anyway, not like I'm gonna even sleep. :DDDDDD**

**~Nudge 3**

**Comments: 632**

**Sort by: Most recent:**

**SkyGirl68:** YAY! SUGAR HIGH TOO :D

** .16:** SO LUCKY! Wish I could have a slumber party with the flock…

**BlackStarGodliness:** Max and Fang are so adorable… BUT FANG'S MINE!

**WiseGirlXSeaweedBrain:** You hacked in again? Awesome!

**Gabbie519:** What movies?

**RainbowsGalore:** Insomnia is really serious, Nudge! Get off the internet!

* * *

**RainbowsGalore, you get that one ^^**

**So, review!**

**Help me defeat writer's block once and for all!**

**I'm out!**

**~greysky3**


	22. Hacking NASA

**A/N: Hi guys! So, so sorry for taking forever with this chapter.**

**I've been re-reading Harry Potter. Maybe that can justify this?**

**Anyway, the last chapter I posted was posted RIGHT when the FF e-mail service was not working, so you didn't get any notifications for it.**

**Before reading this chapter, PLEASE go back and check if you've read the one before.**

**It's a really good chapter.**

**Could I ask of you to review both, even though I was really late with this one? :3**

* * *

"FBI, nobody move!" a guy screamed, taking out a huge gun. My eyes widened, and I put an arm around Nudge, pushing her behind me.

How does the situation go from a few cops to full-on crime show FBI guy with a scary weapon? The guy was wearing a black suit and tie, very formal, and the stereotypical sunglasses.

"Easy there," he said, lowering his weapon. I thought it was a bit of overkill for seven kids and one single mother, but now was really not the moment to object. Under heavy surveillance, and weapons in all of the agents' hands, we were led to the living room.

Oh yeah. Let me rewind. So it all started when Fang showed me his laptop.

"Max! You will not _believe_ what I found," he said, shoving the laptop screen at me. I opened my eyes wide and read. It was the NASA website, showing a picture of a smiling Gasman and Iggy, his mouth open seemingly in protest. Underneath was a caption, reading "The generation's newest geniuses."

Underneath was a detailed explanation of how to make a revolutionary new bomb. With pictures and a step-by-step guide. I didn't click on the "How-to" video.

"NUDGE! IGGY! GAZZY!" I shouted. There was running noise coming from various parts of the house. I pressed my lips tightly together as I heard them run down the stairs.

In an instant, Nudge had appeared, along with the generation's newest geniuses. "I know you've done a lot of bad things," I started. "I have too.

"But there is something you are totally not allowed to do, ever, ever, ever, no matter what. And that would be hack NASA."

"I'm sorry," Nudge said.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SORRY? SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE WE'RE GOING TO BE IN? THAT WOULD BE BROADCASTING OUR LOCATION TO THE WHOLE WORLD! THE ERASERS CAN JUST COME GET US BY TRACKING THE SIGNAL! NOW MOM AND ELLA ARE IN DANGER TOO! AND YOU THINK THE GOVERNMENT WILL JUST LET US GET AWAY WITH IT? NO! NO! NO! YOU THREE ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE, YOU'LL SHRIVEL UP AND DIE BEFORE I FORGIVE YOU!"

"No need to send us a Howler," Iggy muttered.

"IGGY!" I boomed. I was about to call him something a lot less polite than "Iggy," but Mom appeared at that moment.

"Max? What's going on?" she asked.

"These three," I said, gesturing to the offenders, "just hacked NASA."

Mom paled. "I, um, uh…" she stammered. I knew she had no idea what to do. A knock at the door tore her away from her dilemma and she went to answer it.

"Hello?" I heard from the front door.

"Hello, ma'am. Would you be so kind as to inform me whether there is anyone named "Iggy" or "Gazzy" in this residence?"

"No, I'm sorry. Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"I'm sorry ma'am. We're going to have to enter."

There was a horrible rushing noise as policemen started marching in the door. I expect Mom was thrown aside by the tsunami of law enforcement. A man with a fancy suit appeared, pointing his gun at us.

"FBI, nobody move!" Nobody was moving, of course. The guy obviously thought a pre-teen girl, a blind teenager, and me, a skinny sweatshirt-wearing kid were a real threat, because he said "Easy there," as if he were talking to a rabid animal.

We filed into the living room. A white-faced Mom was already there with the rest of the flock. The look Fang sent me pretty much summed up the situation: it plainly meant, "Well this is crap."

I nodded and sat down on the empty couch. An FBI guy checked the room, looking behind picture frames and in every little crack. _As if we would have explosives in there._

For a moment, worry washed over me. Living with Iggy, you learn not to be surprised and to expect the worst. Fortunately, there was nothing the guy found and no one thought to check Iggy and Gazzy's room.

We sat there in silence as the rest of the cops joined us in the living room. Four of them barricaded the entrance to the room and one of the FBI guys faced us. "Are you Iggy and Gazzy, who hacked into the NASA databases?"

"Don't say a word!" Mom said. "I want a lawyer."

The FBI guy glared at her as she took out her cell phone. "Hello? Mr. Pierpoint? It's Valencia Martinez. I'm the guardian of the bird kids. I have to ask you a favor on their behalf."

Mom walked out of the living room, two cops following her. She came back in a minute later, looking relieved. "Mr. Pierpoint and a few of his friends are jetting over to sort things out."

She slumped onto an armchair and put her face in her hands. The policemen and FBI agents shuffled out of the room, but a few stayed to guard the entrance to the living room.

"What do we do now?" Angel asked.

"We wait," I answered. There was a pensive silence that unfortunately lasted only half a minute.

"I'm bored," Nudge said. She immediately regretted it, seeing the look on my face. A few more minutes passed until Angel spoke.

"SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING! It's too quiet!" she exclaimed.

"Who knows the difference between explode and implode?" Iggy asked.

"Me! Me!" the Gasman said, raising his hand.

"Go ahead."

"Implosion is when there is too much pressure outside of something, and the object collapses. Explosion is when pressure from the inside sends everything flying out."

Iggy wiped a tear theatrically. "I've taught you well, Gazzy."

I groaned. I didn't need to hear them popping out random pyro facts for an hour.

"Hey! Look what I found!" said Angel gleefully. She brandished a small plastic doll.

"Ella's old Barbies!" Nudge breathed. The girls exchanged a look and threw themselves on the ground.

"Mine's name is Janie," Angel said.

"That's such a stupid name…" Iggy trailed off.

"Mine is Callie Sparkles Joanna Feather Bagel von Snowglobe," Nudge announced.

That's when the torture _really _started.

"Janie, you need a facelift!"

"Let's get those shoes in _every color_!"

"Yeah, then let's get matching noses!"

"Ooh, now I'm tattooing my puppy's name on my forehead."

"What? How come you have a puppy? I want a puppy!"

"My puppy's name is Cinderella!"

"I have five puppies!"

"I have ten!"

"I have every puppy that's ever been born and that ever will be!"

"No fair! That's impossible!" Angel cried. "Max, tell her she can't have dead puppies and future puppies!"

I buried my face in my hands. "Nudge, you can't have dead puppies," I muttered.

"I'm not playing then!" Nudge said, throwing her Barbie over the edge of my couch, narrowly missing my head.

"How come you threw Callie von Snowglobe?" Angel demanded.

"She committed suicide!" Nudge shouted.

"She can't commit suicide! Max!" Angel wailed. To top it all off, she burst into tears. I clambered off of my couch and picked her up. I let her sit on my lap like when she was little. I stroked her tangled blond curls as she calmed down.

"You tell her, Angel," said Iggy sarcastically. "Think about her family. They'll be so sad."

"Don't care," Nudge muttered darkly, turning over in her armchair. Angel crossed her arms and jumped off of me to go sit somewhere else. I leaned my head heavily against Fang's shoulder.

Knocking at the door made us all jump up. Mom went to answer it, two policemen guarding her. We all watched as Nino Pierpoint strode in with four official-looking people with briefcases, three women and a man.

"Hello, I'm Nino Pierpoint," he said pleasantly, shaking the hand of what looked like the head FBI guy. His face relaxed as he recognized the famous billionaire.

"Hello, Mr. Pierpoint. We've received intelligence that two individuals, "Iggy" and "Gazzy," have broken into a NASA website to post something about explosives."

Mr. Pierpoint chuckled and I knew we had surprised him with yet another degree of making messes. "Ah, you know, children," he said, smiling again at the FBI guy.

"Yes, but—"

"Did you know these are the famous bird kids? The Flock that's all over the news?"

"Really? I—"

Slowly, Mr. Pierpoint walked over to the door with the FBI guy, still talking pleasantly. The rest of the policemen filed out too, and when the last one was gone, Mom slumped onto an unoccupied couch.

"Why?" was all she could manage.

* * *

**A/N: Review this chapter, and don't forget the one before this!**

**I'm out!**

**~greysky3**


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